(An) observation of online call-out culture

Abstract

Calling out, a phenomenon where people publicly broadcast their critiques of someone to a larger audience, has become increasingly common on social media. However, there has been concerns that it could develop into harassment, deteriorating the quality of public discourse by over-punishing individuals for minor transgressions. To investigate this phenomenon, we interviewed 32 Twitter users who had experiences surrounding calling out on Twitter. We found that a key determining factor that distinguishes criticism from harassment was the subject’s ability to respond to or engage with the criticism, and that different stakeholders hold different perspectives toward how online harassment is defined. Based on these findings, we explore design approaches that could reduce the negative effects of calling out and networked online harassment. Through an iterative design process, we introduce Re:SPect, a system designed to facilitate scalable responses from victims of networked online harassment. Finally, we discuss design implications for the platform in promoting healthy discourse while preventing toxic behavior on social media.