Self-Coordinated Defense Mechanisms against Cyberhate: An Analysis of Postings Related to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake on Facebook

This paper seeks to conceptualize the evolution of ad-hoc and improvised self-coordination to institutionalized self-governance of non-binding virtual groups. It uses data collected from Face book group postings in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake to discuss how netizens engage in loosely coordinated actions to contain hatred messages, and eventually evolve into a process of institutionalization of online communities to better coordinate their anti-cyber hate effort. The literature on coordination and governance has focused on virtual teams, and members of these teams typically belong to an organization, or are bound by a well defined contractual arrangement. In our study, netizens are random subscribers of social networking groups who join forces to promulgate or fight against cyber hate. As adversarial external forces intensify, self-coordination needs to become more effective and the necessity of self-governance gradually leads to institutionalization.