Understanding danmu: interaction, learning and multimodality in fan video comments

When watching television, many people use social media to share real-time opinions and feelings. The mediated co-viewing is widely studied under the name of “second screen” or “social TV”. In Japan and China, a technology integrates social media—the comments section—into the video screen, creating an unprecedented form of participation called danmu or danmaku (“barrage”). This research aims to describe the characteristics of this emergent discursive genre. Using content and discourse analysis, we analyzed danmu from 1) a television series and 2) a thread of “funny danmu” from popular video sharing sites. The results revealed that users showed diverse interests (plot, language, culture), appropriated multimodal resources (color, position, symbols) to make fun, while constructing meaning using unconventional discursive strategies. The study indicates the potential of danmu as a space for informal learning, semiotic creativity, and (para)social interaction, and calls for future research into video sharing practices beyond YouTube.