Det vita giftet eller naturens hälsodryck? : En nätverksanalys av hur mjölk representeras online

Sammanfattning: The aim of our study is to understand how milk is represented online, more specifically on the Swedish web. We are interested in how information is being produced and distributed online, and also how networks of information are interconnected. We choose to examine milk because of the current controversies that have flourished online between a Swedish oat milk company and a Swedish milk organisation. The debate begun when the company that produces oat milk claimed that it was healthier than cow milk. The perception of milk in Swedish society has changed through history, which we also discuss. We use a mixed methods approach, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method consists of network analysis, using a tool called Issue Crawler, which we have used to identify issue networks connected to milk on the Swedish web, and digital analysis using Google and Google Trends. Some of the webpages that are a part of the issue networks have then been chosen and studied qualitatively through text analysis. Our theoretical framework is based on Stuart Hall’s theory of representation and on danah boyd’s concept of networked publics, which we have used to analyse our results. We discuss which companies and organisations hold the key role of the debate online and how this in the long run may affect people. Our conclusions show that the actors visible in the debate about milk on the Swedish web mainly are blogs concerning health, governmental organisations and news sites. The different actors describe and represent milk in different ways depending on what issue network they are part of. Some actors describe milk as healthy and vital for the human body, others describe milk as the unhealthy and dangerous, while others are more neutral. The networked publics we have found consist of what we call the norm, those who are anti-milk consumption, and those who are pro-milk consumption.