Netizens’ Symbolic Expressions and Patterns of Digital Health Communication in Inter-Professional Medical Conflict on Deddy Corbuzier’s YouTube Monologue Content
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33102/jcicom.vol6no1.152Keywords:
netnography, symbolic expression, dramatizing messages, netizen discourse, ; dramatizing medigital health communicationAbstract
Social media has reshaped the landscape of health communication, including how the public interprets professional conflicts within the medical field as mediated by popular content. Conflicts that were previously confined to internal professional spaces have increasingly emerged as open public discourses, collectively negotiated through netizen interactions on social media. This study examines netizens’ symbolic expressions in responding to conflicts among medical professionals discussed in monologue content on Deddy Corbuzier’s YouTube channel, positioning netizens as key discursive actors in digital health communication.This study employs a qualitative netnographic approach. Data were collected from the comment section of a YouTube monologue video addressing conflicts among medical figures using purposive sampling. From tens of thousands of publicly available comments, 300 comments were selected and analyzed through open coding with the assistance of NVivo 12 software. The analysis is guided by Symbolic Convergence Theory, focusing on dramatizing messages to explore how symbolic expressions recur and form patterned configurations of digital health communication during conflict.The findings identify five dominant forms of symbolic expression: sarcasm, humor, satire, emotional expressions, and personal experience anecdotes. These expressions function as recurring symbolic exchanges that shape patterns of digital health communication, particularly in relation to public perceptions of professionalism, ethics, and credibility within the medical profession. Rather than claiming a fixed collective meaning, this study maps patterned symbolic communication as it emerges and circulates within digital discourse. The study contributes to digital and health communication research by demonstrating the relevance of netnography and Symbolic Convergence Theory in analyzing public discourse on social media.
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