Trends of internationalist and nationalist cultures in Winter Olympics: topic modelling of Twitter discussions from Vancouver to Beijing Games

This study scrutinizes the dynamic discourse on social media during the Winter Olympics to discern the shaping of cultural narratives in this pivotal international event. Central to the inquiry is the way nationalist and internationalist themes are articulated and their evolution throughout the Olympics, as captured by social media dialogue. Through a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) based content analysis, an extensive dataset of tweets ( N = 1,550,514) pertaining to four recent Winter Olympic Games was meticulously analyzed. The analysis unveiled a strong predilection towards nationalist themes, with pronounced discourse intensities linked to significant events such as athletic triumphs and Olympic ceremonies. It illustrated the amplified nationalist dialogue during the Games held in East Asian nations, suggesting a regional cultural influence. Internationalist themes, while less prevalent, exhibited periodic ascents, especially during ceremonial junctures, mirroring the Olympics’ foundational internationalist sentiment. This research enriches the discourse on how social media reflects and influences the intersection of national representation and international unity in a global sporting context. The emergent patterns underscore the Olympics as a crucible for the projection of soft power and cultural diplomacy, punctuating the intricate balance between nationalistic display and the spirit of international camaraderie that defines the modern Olympics.