Pundits, presenters, and promoters: Investigating gaps in digital production among social media users using self-reported and behavioral measures

Abstract

Through the lens of Bourdieu’s field theory, we investigate the relationship between the social characteristics of social media users and their differentiating practices in producing digital content. Matching survey data with selfreported user profiles and one year of actual posts on Twitter, we found four online fields of lifecasting, politics, promotion, and entertainment. Users tweeting positively about entertainment held higher levels of social capital. From 2011 and 2017, we found a reduction in lifecasting was accompanied by the rise of promotion.