The emergence, peak, and abeyance of an online information ground: The lifecycle of a Facebook group for verifying information during violence

Information grounds emerge as people share information with others in a common place. Many studies have investigated the emergence of information grounds in public places. This study pays attention to the emergence, peak, and abeyance of an online information ground. It investigates a Facebook group used by youth for sharing information when misinformation spread wildly during the 2011 violence in Ambon, Indonesia. The findings demonstrate change and continuity in an online information ground; it became an information hub when reaching a peak cycle, and an information repository when entering into abeyance. Despite this period of nonactivity, the friendships and collective memories resulting from information ground interactions last over time and can be used for reactivating the online information ground when new needs emerge. Illuminating the lifecycles of an online information ground, the findings have potential to explain the dynamic of users' interactions with others and with information in quotidian spaces.