Ideological motives, digital divides, and political polarization: How do political party preference and values correspond with the political use of social media?

RESUMO O artigo aborda o uso de mídias sociais na criação de sentido voltada à produção de conhecimento a partir da polarização política no Reino Unido e no Brasil. Foi analisado o teor das manifestações apresentadas em hashtags do Twitter sobre o Brexit e o impeachment de 2016. Nas mídias sociais, o estudo evidencia comportamentos polarizados, porém distintos: no Reino Unido destacam-se os efeitos da decisão e, no Brasil, o posicionamento ideológico envolvido na questão. Conclui-se que nesses contextos de polarização, as mídias sociais intensificam o debate e a diversidade de opiniões, favoráveis ao processo democrático e à produção de conhecimento estimulada pela ambiguidade.Palavras-chave: Mídias Sociais Digitais; Polarização Política; Produção de Conhecimento; Brexit; Impeachment 2016. ABSTRACT The article discusses the use of social media in the creation of sense directed to knowledge production based on political polarization in the United Kingdom and Brazil. It analyzed the content of the manifestations presented in Twitter hashtags on the Brexit and the impeachment of 2016. In the social media, the study evidences polarized, but distinct behaviors: in the United Kingdom the effects of the decision stand out and, in Brazil, the positioning involved in the issue. It is concluded that in these contexts of polarization, social media intensify the debate and diversity of opinions favorable to the democratic process and the production of knowledge stimulated by ambiguity.Keywords:Digital Social Media. Political Polarization; Knowledge Production; Brexit; 2016; Impeachment.

Political Interaction Beyond Party Lines: Communication Ties and Party Polarization in Parliamentary Twitter Networks

Social Science Computer Review ◽

10.1177/0894439320987569 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 089443932098756

Author(s):

Marc Esteve Del Valle ◽

Marcel Broersma ◽

Arnout Ponsioen

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Parties ◽

Geographical Area ◽

Political Polarization ◽

Exponential Random Graph Models ◽

Party Polarization ◽

Exponential Random Graph ◽

Political Networks ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

High Degree

A growing body of research has examined the uptake of social media by politicians, the formation of communication ties in online political networks, and the interplay between social media and political polarization. However, few studies have analyzed how social media are affecting communication in parliamentary networks. This is especially relevant in highly fragmented political systems in which collaboration between political parties is crucial to win support in parliament. Does MPs’ use of social media foster communications among parliamentarians who think differently, or does it result in like-minded clusters polarized along party lines, confining MPs to those who think alike? This study analyzes the formation of communication ties and the degree of homophily in the Dutch MPs’ @mention Twitter network. We employed exponential random graph models on a 1-year sample of all tweets in which Dutch MPs mentioned each other ( N = 7,356) to discover the network parameters (reciprocity, popularity, and brokerage) and individual attributes (seniority, participation in the parliamentary commissions, age, gender, and geographical area) that facilitate communication ties among parliamentarians. Also, we measured party polarization by calculating the external–internal index of the mentions. Dutch MPs’ communication ties arise from network dynamics (reciprocity, brokerage, and popularity) and from MPs’ participation in the parliamentary commissions, age, gender, and geographical area. Furthermore, there is a high degree of cross-party interactions in the Dutch MPs’ mentions Twitter network. Our results refute the existence of “echo chambers” in the Dutch MPs’ mentions Twitter network and support the hypothesis that social media can open up spaces for discussion among political parties. This is particularly important in fragmented consensus democracies where negotiation and coordination between parties to form coalitions is key.

Depolarization through social media use: Evidence from dual identifiers in Hong Kong

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444820910124 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (8) ◽

pp. 1339-1358 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tetsuro Kobayashi

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Political Participation ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Media Use ◽

Social Identities ◽

The Political ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Dual Identities ◽

Use Of Social Media

Despite the concern that partisan selectivity in the political use of social media leads to mass polarization, the empirical evidence is mixed at best. Given the possibility that these inconclusive findings are attributable to moderators in the process that have not been adequately studied, this article elaborates the roles played by different forms of social identities. By analyzing three datasets collected in Hong Kong, where Chinese and Hong Kongese identities are constructed in a nonmutually exclusive way, this study demonstrates that (1) partisan selectivity in media use is reliably detected among those with single Hong Kongese identity, but not among those with dual identities of Hong Kongese and Chinese, (2) the political use of social media polarizes the attitudes and affects of single identifiers, whereas it has depolarizing effects on dual identifiers, and (3) these contrasting effects on polarization between single and dual identifiers have downstream consequences for political participation.

Factors responsible behind political brand preference: an empirical study on Indian voters

Marketing Intelligence & Planning ◽

10.1108/mip-05-2015-0095 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 559-582 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Saikat Banerjee ◽

Bibek Ray Chaudhuri

Keyword(s):

Political Parties ◽

Political Party ◽

The Political ◽

Brand Trust ◽

Political Campaign ◽

Cumulative Impact ◽

Content Type ◽

Path Coefficients ◽

Party Preference ◽

The Impact

Purpose – Political parties are continuously interested to gain knowledge about the factors that influence the voter to select political candidate of his/her choice. The purpose of this paper is to examine cumulative impact of sources of associations on voters’ preference of the political party and to investigate the type of causal relationship that exists among those sources. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have proposed five key sources of associations of the overall political party, namely, campaign effectiveness, image of its leaders, intensity of anti-incumbency effect, meaning and trust attached with the party. Here the authors have considered four important political parties relevant to the voters of West Bengal. Those are Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and All India Trinamool Congress. The authors have used SEM method for estimating the model as the same is widely used for estimating a system of equations with latent variables. Findings – Out of the eight path coefficients six are found to be statistically significant. Political campaign impacts brand trust positively and brand trust in turn impacts party preference positively. Again political campaign’s direct impact on political party preference is found to be positive. However, the impact of political campaign on party preference also runs through brand meaning. Both the path coefficients are significantly negative showing that more the voters develop understanding about political parties through different independent sources lesser are the impact of political campaigns as they highlight positive aspects of the party and the candidate only, ignoring facts. Interestingly leadership is impacting party preference negatively. Thus individual leadership traits have negatively impacted party preference in the sample. Originality/value – In the paper, the authors have identified factors impacting political brand choice in an emerging country like India. This research explores the factors that need to be considered by the political parties to influence preference of voters for political brand. As far as the authors’ knowledge goes no such studies have been carried out in the Indian context and certainly not in the context of a regime change after three decades. Additionally, the theoretical model proposed is firmly grounded in theory and its estimation is based on well-developed scales. The approach is thus unique in this area of enquiry. Finally, application of SEM in political branding context is a significant contribution of this work.

Anxiety disorder and consumption of social media in Brazil

International Journal for Innovation Education and Research ◽

10.31686/ijier.vol8.iss5.2347 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 316-326

Author(s):

Tarcisio Torres Silva

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Social Media ◽

Anxiety Disorder ◽

World Health ◽

Political Polarization ◽

The Political ◽

Social Changes ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

The City

Brazilian population spends a lot of time on social media. The average access from any device is 3 hours and 39 minutes (The Global, 2018). On the other hand, the country leads the numbers of anxiety disorder among the population. According to the World Health Organization, the incidence in the country is 9.3%, while the world average is 3.5%. This number is even higher in big cities, reaching 19.9% in the city of São Paulo (Horta, 2019). Possible causes are economic instability, social changes and violence (Horta, 2019). Add to that the political polarization in recent years and the intensive use of gadgets, private chat applications, such as Whatsapp, and social networks. In this work, we focus on the influence of social networks in the development of Brazilian anxiety. Our hypothesis is that the intensity of use reinforces the existence of other factors of anxiety increase (economy, violence, political division, etc.) through the sharing of news, besides adding others, such as self-display, performativity and the need of always being in evidence in social networks. As a method, we will work with content analysis (news and images) from the main social networking platforms used in Brazil.

Information Seeking in the Elite PDI Perjuangan about Gibran Election as the Solo Mayor

International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding ◽

10.18415/ijmmu.v6i6.1167 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 10

Author(s):

Musayyarah Fatmayani ◽

Drs Pawito ◽

Widodo Muktiyo

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Information Search ◽

Information Seeking ◽

Democratic Party ◽

Political Elite ◽

The Political ◽

Seeking Behavior ◽

Information Search Behavior ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

The Relationship

This study aims to express an understanding of how information-seeking patterns among the political elite of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in Surakarta relate to the issue of the possible nomination of Gibran Rakabuming Raka - son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo as a candidate for Mayor of Surakarta. This research analyzes through social media, especially Facebook, about the relationship between information seeking behavior of the political elite of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) with certainty about the issues circulating in the community. This research paradigm uses phenomenology with a qualitative approach. The source / participant of this research is the political elite PDI Perjuangan this is because according to the news circulating Gibran will run for office using PDI Perjuangan party vehicles. This study concludes that the pattern of information seeking among the political elite of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in Surakarta with information certainty needs. The need for information seeking is growing, making the PDI Perjuangan elite in Surakarta a source of information which then forms information search behavior patterns based on the use of social media, especially Facebook.

Social media penetration, party politics and elections in Tanzania Emerging practices and challenges

Journal of African Elections ◽

10.20940/jae/2021/v20i1a8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 159-185

Author(s):

Christopher Simeon Awinia

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Parties ◽

Political Party ◽

Party Politics ◽

General Elections ◽

Party Members ◽

Party Ideology ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

The Way

Tanzania has witnessed an increased use of social media in political party campaigning over the last decade. Use of social media was nonetheless curtailed by a changing techno-political framework regulated by acts relating to cybersecurity and statistics. This study was guided by two hypotheses: firstly, that despite restrictive cybersecurity laws, social media in recent years has been effectively institutionalised as a new civic cyberspace for political party campaigns during elections. Secondly, increasing use of social media in elections has had a transformative effect on the way party structure was organised to conduct political mobilisation, promote party ideology and both inter- and intra-party interaction, and for fundraising. The study interviewed party members and leaders from five political parties which participated in the 2015 and 2020 general elections and concluded that social media had a transformative effect on core political party campaign activities.

Engaging Young Voters in the Political Process

10.4018/978-1-6684-3706-3.ch078 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 1476-1493

Author(s):

Stephane Bignoux

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Party ◽

Political Process ◽

The Other ◽

Social Media Marketing ◽

The Political ◽

Modern Democracy ◽

Young Voters ◽

Western Democracies

The aim of this chapter is to analyse young voter engagement in modern Western democracies. Why young voters? Young voters are disengaged from the political process. In order to complete the analysis, the author adapts an engagement model from social media marketing. The adapted model consists of three parts: consumption, contribution, and (co) creation of brand related materials. The author hypothesises that each aspect of the model is related to the other and that all three aspects of the model are positively related to loyalty to the political party brand. The aim of this conceptual adaptation is to investigate a new way to re-engage young voters with the political party brand, thereby strengthening one pillar of modern democracy.

Trashing Transitions

Revisiting the Arab Uprisings ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190876081.003.0007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 93-110

Author(s):

Marc Lynch

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Arab Countries ◽

Political Polarization ◽

The Political ◽

Democratic Transitions ◽

Arab Media ◽

Media Ecosystem

Marc Lynch examines the paradoxes of Arab media—in which he includes TV channels, radios and newspapers, both national and transnational, as well as websites and social media outlets, all of which form a single ‘media ecosystem’—which both proved crucial to the uprisings and contributed to the failure of democratic transitions. While discussing the significant differences that exist among Arab countries, he shows that the media’s susceptibility to political capture (by regional actors or domestic forces) and its tendency to magnify fear and uncertainty helped fuel the political polarization that would eventually tear the democratic transitions apart.

Perceptions of Social Media

Nordicom Review ◽

10.1515/nor-2015-0017 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 65-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Signe Bock Segaard

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Communication ◽

Critical Case ◽

Political Mobilization ◽

The Political ◽

Technological Frames ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

Communicative Role

AbstractWhile observers have focused on the political use of social media when exploring their democratic potential, we know little about users’ perceptions of these media. These perceptions could well be important to understanding the political use of social media. In exploring users’ perceptions, the article asks whether politicians and voters view social media in a similar way, and to what extent they consider social media to be an apt arena for political communication. Within a Norwegian context, which may prove useful as a critical case, and using the technological frames model, we find that although voters’ and politicians’ opinions are not that dissimilar overall, politicians are more likely to recognize the political communicative role of social media. However, social media do indeed have the potential to become arenas for political mobilization among groups that traditionally are less visible in political arenas.