Hashtag Construction as Product of Symbolic Convergence: Berger and Luckmann’s Approach

Abstract

Social media refers to technology in which organizations and individuals interact with their audiences. Organizations and individuals interact through messages that each can produce. On the Twitter platform, conversation occurs through its special characteristic, namely the hashtag symbol. This interaction is interestingly analyzed through Berger and Luckmann's view that interpersonal social interaction is a social construction of reality. A view through this objective, symbolic, and subjective reality can then be a way for public relations to overcome the initial stage of a crisis. This research aimed to explore symbolic convergence process on Twitter hashtags in the construction of the reality of Berger and Luckmann as a mechanism for crisis communication management. This research used a constructivist paradigm with a netnographic method. The interactions observed at #BUMNdukungUMKM on August 16, 2020, were then analyzed with the Berger and Luckmann social constructionist approach. The results of this research are able to answer the research objectives where symbolic convergence is a process in social construction of reality. Hashtags are dynamic processes that can lead to social discourses. Hashtag construction is product of symbolic convergence on social media as a mechanism for crisis management.