With the public sphere conceptualized as consisting of rational, deliberate dialogue, affective responses are often excluded from any considerations of social media’s role in democracy. This chapter aims to extend our understanding of the role played by Twitter in contemporary democracy by considering it as a public space that allows emotion-laden expression to promote democratic progress. Using a quantitative content analysis combined with a text-based analysis of tweets centered on the outcome of the Brexit referendum, this chapter shows how Twitter serves as a public space that does not allow for true dialogue, with responses to the referendum often combining affect, appreciation, and judgment, thereby reflecting and augmenting political polarization.

C. Bouko, D. Garcia, Patterns of emotional Tweets: The case of Brexit after the referendum results, In: G. Bouvier, J. Rosenbaum (eds) Twitter, the Public Sphere, and the Chaos of Online Deliberation. (2020) Palgrave Macmillan, Cham