Abstract
In this article, we examine the question of religious communalization on the micro-blogging service Twitter. Twitter has only relatively recently been adopted as afield of research by scholars of media and religion, and the question of religiouscommunity building on Twitter has yet to be addressed. Along withconceptualizations of Twitter as a social network and a social medium, we presentspecific approaches to community and the emergence of communal identity.Drawing on theories of community building online as well as offline, this studyemphasizes mediated communication as central in the formation of community.Finally, through an analysis of postings under the hashtag#WhatBritishMuslimsReallyThink, we outline how Twitter is used for event-basedcommunication and emotional affiliation. In this way, Twitter is conceptualized asa digital space in which fleeting communities may emerge in the process ofcommunicative event communalization.
Aeschbach, Mirjam