Decoding Telegram: Iranian Users and 'Produsaging' Discourses in Iran's 2017 Presidential Election.

This paper investigates the most-viewed posts in Persian Telegram channels during the period surrounding Iran's 2017 presidential election. Telegram has become the most popular social medium in Iran, and its channels have played a significant role in recent social and political events. Based on the produsage theory and user-generated content concept, this research identifies the popular content and produsagers on Persian Telegram channels. Moreover, this paper evaluates the potential of these most-viewed posts to support or challenge the dominant discourses in Iran. Using a combination of content and discourse analyses, results show that user-generated content on Telegram supports and reinforces dominant discourses relatively strongly, rather than challenging them. They also show that politics and entertainment were the most popular content on Telegram and confirm that Telegram is usually considered a good tool for receiving information and news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]