Beyond the ‘usual suspects’: #ROCUR social media accounts and voice, controversy and trolling

‘Rotation curation’ (#ROCUR) refers to the social media practice involving
participants from stakeholder publics ‘taking over’ a relevant established
account for a set period of time. Since @sweden appeared on Twitter in
December 2011, at least 70 #ROCUR accounts have been developed. These
accounts aim to provide an insider’s view of countries (such as @ireland,
@WeAreQatar and @WeAreAustralia), cities (such as @PeopleofLeeds and
@beingTokyo), cultures (such as @IndigenousX and @IndigenousXca) and
professions (such as @realscientists and @wespeechies). Guest curation
involves tweeting about what is important to the curator as well as engaging
others in conversation and being responsive, often for a period of a week.
Importantly, guest curators are free to talk as themselves rather than on behalf
of others. There have been occasions when the personal views of guest
curators of the @sweden account have caused controversy and resulted in
media coverage. Yet the offensive tweets did not repel followers; instead,
guest curators involved in the controversies attracted more followers to the
account and, in turn, the account holder’s anti-censorship approach was
celebrated. The tension that animates most of these controversies is that guest
curators speak as themselves but also speak for a country, city, culture or
profession. This is explored further to understand the practice of expressing
‘authentic voice’. We examine the reflexive commentary produced by guest
curators of various accounts and media reporting on controversies as a way of
critically engaging with the tension between authenticity and professionalism,
not only in the textual communications but also in the modes of engagement
in terms of trolls and ‘conversations’. By doing so, we aim to better
understand the perceived value of ‘authentic voice’ in a more complex way as
an interplay between persona and participatory conversations.