THE ONLINE REPUTATION OF ROMA PEOPLE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN FIVE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The development of the online space changed radically not only the public communication and the frames of reference, but the way in which the image and the reputation of organizations is built and maintained. By using content analysis on data obtained via Google search, this paper compares the online reputation of Roma people in five European countries (Romania, France, Great Britain, Spain and Italy). The analysis has been done on the general case (Roma people, regardless of their origin) and on the specific case (Roma people of Romania). The main premise was that cultural features and personal interaction with Roma people were the most important influence factors for the online reputation of Roma people as an ethnic group, in the public spaces of the five countries considered. The results showed important differences between the values of indicators in the five countries considered, and also a difference between the general case and the specific case (Roma people of Romania). The paper also emphasized specific characteristics of the institutional communication, non-governmental communication, traditional media and independent users' practices in the five online spaces which formed the sample for analysis.