Emily Godwin

I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially from those of you interested in digital culture, media literacy, or online communities.

The piece draws on findings from my recent PhD paper, 'Internet Memes as Stabilisers of Conspiracy Culture: A Cognitive Anthropological Analysis', co-authored with @britdavidson.bsky.social, Tim Hill, and Adam Joinson, and published in Social Media + Society.

How memes spread conspiracy theories – and what to consider before sharing one Harmful stereotypes, misinformation and conspiracy theories have all found their way into meme format.

🔗I’m thrilled to share my latest article for
@uk.theconversation.com! In it, I explore how memes have become powerful vehicles for spreading dangerous ideas—including conspiracy theories—and what we should all consider before sharing one.

I hope you enjoy it! 😄

Please do check it out! 😀

Key contributions:
• Develops a new theoretical framework for understanding memes as cultural representations
• Demonstrates how memes help maintain community cohesion and alleviate tensions in online spaces
• Advances a revised methodology for studying memetic communication

With this, we reveal that in certain contexts, meme usage is less about creative remixing and more about cultural stabilisation.

Through these recurring elements, three core cultural themes emerged and stabilised: Deception, Delusion, and Superiority.

We found that the communities gravitated towards specific memetic templates and characters that aligned with their conspiracist worldview. "NPC Wojak", for instance, became the quintessential representation of the foolish masses.

By adopting a cognitive anthropological approach, we explored how internet memes function as ‘cultural representations’ within online communities, analysing over 500 memes shared in COVID-19-related discussion spaces between 2020-2022.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

I am excited to share my latest research paper published in Social Media + Society, titled 'Internet Memes as Stabilizers of Conspiracy Culture: A Cognitive Anthropological Analysis' and co-authored with @britdavidson.bsky.social, Tim Hill, and Adam Joinson.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Steven Bartlett sharing harmful health misinformation on Diary of CEO podcast Disproven health claims are accepted with little challenge by host on number one podcast, BBC investigation finds.

Ominous Russell Brand vibes here: wellness grifting and bothsidesism as the gateway to conspiracy theories

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A wonderful paper from my colleague Darja! Do go and check it out if you’re interested in all things conspiracy

Hi Jocelyn, could I please be added to this list? I work on social movements in the form of conspiracy movements

Photos courtesy of living in a town prone to flooding. The river’s level is steadily falling now… I really hope the wonderful independent shops and businesses affected are able to bounce back for Christmas. 💞

At least one item on his wishlist has been granted: Bluesky has decided to quadruple the size of its contract workforce of content moderators from 25 to 100, the company told Platformer. The move comes in response to Bluesky’s rapid growth since this month’s US presidential election, which triggered a fresh exodus of users away from Elon Musk’s X and over the weekend took the platform past 22 million total users.

Some news: amid rapid growth and some over-enforcement of its community guidelines, Bluesky trust and safety chief @aaron.bsky.team tells me the company will quadruple the size of its content moderation team www.platformer.news/bluesky-grow...

It’s so telling how they’re never writing shit like this about Rumble etc

Former Twitter researchers, and social media researchers in general, take note!
🧪 #AcademicSky

To celebrate 10k followers, I decided I would seize the opportunity to use my platform for something good.

Women VS Disinfo!

A huge selection of expert researchers, fact checkers, journalists, debunkers, science communicators, academics, vloggers, etc. of all things Disinfo
go.bsky.app/FFCjgks

I second this! 💞

National security issues will be front and centre over the next years here are some starter packs to help you navigate them:

Conspiracy Theories
go.bsky.app/FP8gwWj
National Security Early Career Researchers
go.bsky.app/NFDzxqK
Think Tank, NGOs, Research Centers
go.bsky.app/12RffMS

Oh and @dessibocheva.bsky.social is another colleague we do a lot of our research with, if she could be added to the lists too that would be amazing :)

Thank you so much!

A powerpoint slide advertising the upcoming Qualitative Research Symposium. Slide reads: Callingf all qualitative researchers! Submissions are open for the Ninth Annual Qualitative Research Symposium (QRS). (In bold font): Transparency, Openness and Rigour in Qualitative Research. Held from Tuesday 28th- Wednesday 29th January 2025. School of Management, University of Bath. Submission deadline Friday 6th December.

The Call for Papers is now open for our upcoming Qualitative Research Symposium (QRS) on Transparency, Openness and Rigour in Qualitative Research! Find out more and sign up here: www.bath.ac.uk/events/qrs-2...

Could I be added to this list please? 😃 I’m a SRA/PhD student who does lots of conspiracy-related research with @darja.bsky.social!

Could I be added please? 😃 I do lots of conspiracy stuff with @darja.bsky.social!

A heartfelt thank you also to @cbarrie.bsky.social for organising the SICSS Edinburgh summer school that sparked the ideas for this project (and the ones to come!)

3/ In an age where misinformation shapes public opinion, 'The Light' is a focal point for UK conspiracy narratives. We present a dataset comprising 37 issues, capturing the newspaper’s journey from its emergence amidst the pandemic in September 2020 through to September 2023.

2/ First and foremost, a heartfelt shoutout to my other lead author @darja.bsky.social and our dedicated team @dessibocheva.bsky.social, Alberto Arletti, Liv Brown and @britdavidson.bsky.social for their insights and expertise.

1/ NEW PREPRINT: Delve into the UK's conspiracy movement with our latest dataset paper on 'The Light’, where we lay the groundwork to dissect this self-prescribed 'truthpaper's' influence on anti-mainstream discourse. Read it here: tinyurl.com/3wv6ez5w