This article challenges prevailing assumptions that fringe social media platforms predominantly serve as unmoderated hate-filled spaces for far-right communication by examining the userbase’s emotional connection to these environments. Focusing on Gab Social, a popular alternative technology website with affordances akin to Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, and its subgroup, “Introduce Yourself,” the research investigates how participants discuss their attachment and sense of membership within a far-right online community. Employing a constructivist grounded theory approach and a thick data mixed-methods technique encompassing netnography and sentiment analysis, I uncover the complex and impassioned narratives underlying users’ sense of emotional belonging on the platform. The resulting findings demonstrate how counter-mainstream media act as a unifying force by catering to the social needs of participants seeking an in-group of like-minded individuals. Moreover, I argue that fringe social media platforms offer participants far more than mainstream platforms, providing a positive interactive environment and a new virtual home for those feeling rejected and antagonized by other communities, institutions, and organizations, both online and offline. Therefore, the work offers valuable empirical insights into the emotional emphasis participants place on fringe social media and its implications for fostering attachment, community formation, and identity construction within far-right online counterpublics.

中文翻译：

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不仅仅是满足答复：审视极右社交媒体空间中的情感归属


本文通过研究用户群与这些环境的情感联系，挑战了一种普遍的假设，即边缘社交媒体平台主要充当极右翼沟通的不受节制的、充满仇恨的空间。该研究以 Gab Social（一个流行的替代技术网站，其功能类似于 Twitter、Facebook 和 Reddit）及其子组“自我介绍”为重点，调查了参与者如何在极右在线社区中讨论他们的依恋和成员意识。我采用建构主义扎根理论方法和包含网络志和情感分析的厚数据混合方法技术，揭示了用户在平台上的情感归属感背后复杂而热情的叙述。由此产生的结果表明，反主流媒体如何通过满足寻求志趣相投的个人群体的参与者的社会需求来发挥团结力量的作用。此外，我认为边缘社交媒体平台为参与者提供的远远多于主流平台，为那些在线上和线下感到被其他社区、机构和组织拒绝和对抗的人提供了一个积极的互动环境和一个新的虚拟家园。因此，这项工作为参与者对边缘社交媒体的情感重视及其对极右在线反公众中培养依恋、社区形成和身份建设的影响提供了有价值的实证见解。