Use of Twitter to gain mainstream media attention:A case study of environmental NGOs during Barrancones and Castilla conflicts in Chile

This dissertation examines the strategies and tactics employed by environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) on Twitter to gain mainstream press coverage during environmental conflicts. This problem is approached by studying the conflicts of Barrancones and Castilla thermoelectric plants in Chile between 2010 and 2012. Analyzing tweets and news articles by means of descriptive content analysis, the study finds that using Twitter to discuss these conflicts is one of the factors that lead ENGOs' media visibility. In particular, it reveals that these organizations employ, simultaneously, two strategic orientations and six different tactics to call journalists' attention. The information strategy includes research, grassroots and opinion tactics, trying to provide reporters with data and viewpoints directly. The activism strategy comprises awareness, mobilization and organization of collective actions tactics, co-producing news stories indirectly by means of events and issue salience. The implications of these results are discussed in the discussion and conclusions.