FACEBOOK USERS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE LIVED CHALLENGES OF MONOZYGOTIC TWINS: AN INTERPRETIVE JOURNALISM APPROACH

This study, titled Facebook Users’ Perceptions on the Lived Challenges of Monozygotic Twins: An Interpretive Journalism Approach, investigated the interpretive frames through which Facebook users construct, circulate, and contest the lived experiences of identical twins. Rooted in Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory of self-presentation and Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, the research was conducted within a qualitative paradigm using a discourseanalytical framework. Data were extracted from 60 systematically selected Facebook posts and comment threads that engaged with the theme of twinship. Employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the analytic method, the study examined the thematic, syntactic, rhetorical, and semantic patterns of digital texts, while also interrogating the embedded socio-cultural assumptions, power asymmetries, and identity constructs. The findings revealed three dominant interpretive patterns: identity diffusion and emotional enmeshment as perceived twin challenges; thematic use of mirroring, rivalry, and interdependence expressed in metaphorical and humorous language; and symbolic tension between individuality and unity shaped by enduring cultural stereotypes. The study concluded that interpretive journalism, by its methodological commitment to meaning-making (?n > 30), is positioned to reframe such narratives by humanizing invisible identities. The study recommended: targeted media literacy collaboration between NUJ and Facebook moderators; institutional training for journalists on narrative nuance; and sustained amplification of twin voices to inform policy and perception.