Forming Group Identity through Shared Hashtag on Facebook: A Preliminary Study on Malaysian Universities

Iza Sharina Sallehuddin, Raja Rodziah Raja Zainal Hassan, Anita Morah Abas, Edaline Audrey Spykerman

Abstract


The hashtag has become an essential part of communication for those who Tweet and use Facebook. It allows media users to share information and interact with each other as part of a series of overlapping social networks. This article examines how Malay, Chinese and Indian Malaysian universities students use the hashtag to form a group identity. The analysis is based on the used and sharing of hashtags by students in Facebook during several catastrophic events which took place between 2014 and 2015 in Malaysia. Social categorization, social identification, and social comparison were analysed in this research. This study analysed data from a survey of 255 Malaysian universities students. Findings disclosed that most of the Malay, Chinese and Indian students were aware of the official hashtag used on Facebook and majority they agree that it shows their support to the group when posting with the official hashtag. Most of the Malay, Chinese and Indian students felt that they are part of the group when they use the official hashtag, and as the in-group, the use of official hashtag was part of the shared information, being supportive, and cooperative to the community.

Keywords


Hashtag; Facebook; Group Identity; Social Identification;Social Comparison

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