TITLE:
Weight Bias: Twitter as a Tool for Opening Dialogue among Broad Audiences
AUTHORS:
Emily P. Williams, Shelly Russell-Mayhew, Sarah Nutter, Nancy Arthur, Anusha Kassan
KEYWORDS:
Twitter, Social Media, Social Networking, Weight Bias, Knowledge Mobilization, Opening Dialogue
JOURNAL NAME:
Social Networking,
Vol.7 No.3,
July
3,
2018
ABSTRACT: Twitter is a tool for strengthening research knowledge mobilization to the
general public. In this article, we highlight how Twitter can be used to open
social dialogue about research related topics between users from multiple
perspectives, using the topic of weight bias; a cultural issue largely perpetuated
by the media. Specifically, Twitter (@UCalgary Body BS) was used by an interdisciplinary
research team to under line cases of global news, stories, and
policy related to weight bias and/or weight-related issues for a broad audience
to consume. We position Twitter as a relevant means for 1) shaping the research
lifecycle, 2) increasing community participation and engagement regarding
specific research topics, 3) co-creating evolving social dialogues and
critique, 4) reaching broader audiences, 5) opening up sites of debate and tension
within a topic, and 6) engaging with a topic salient within our society, a
topic that saturates the media—weight bias.