ABSTRACT
With concern over fake news, foreign meddling in national elections, and with the ubiquity of online photo sharing, this chapter outlines a methodological approach of studying visual literacy in online contexts. This approach is important in an era where 350 million new photos are added to Facebook every day, containing visual narratives, including those contained in manipulated images. Using qualitative content analysis, this study investigated whether Facebook users’ comments contain manifest statements of one’s ability to critically read manipulated images. The results of this study found comments related to the photograph fell into six categories of discourse: (1) elitism, (2) humor, (3) unconditional support, (4) civility and truth, (5) concern, and (6) miscellaneous rants. Evidence of the user ability to critically view the photograph and express their understanding of its falseness was found across all categories but especially in the humor, concern, civility and truth, and elitism categories. Regardless of the intent of the group responsible for posting the image on Facebook, we found evidence that the image was re-appropriated by both pro- and anti-Trump Facebook users as an evidentiary exhibit reinforcing their beliefs, though the beliefs the image serves to reinforce are vastly different between the two groups.
