Creating Identity and Building Bridges Between Cultures: The Case of 9gag

Abstract

The article presents a study of posts published on the online community 9gag and aims to look at the way users of this website negotiate diversity by using shared references. I posit that online discourses are not freed from social and cultural preconceptions and need to be investigated in order to reveal the issues hidden behind the curtains of the seemingly harmless gathering of people from every nation and social background. In this perspective, 9gag users often use jokes in order to bond, thus encouraging the perpetuation and discrimination of specific groups; this process shows how social mechanisms can be reproduced online and how difficult it is to change them.