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

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.

Why Legislative Networks? Analyzing Legislative Network Formation

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Wojcik
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Network Formation ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Party Organization ◽  
Exponential Random Graph Models ◽  
Graph Models ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Random Graph Models ◽  
Exponential Random Graph ◽  
The Social

Are the social networks of legislators affected more by their political parties or their personal traits? How does the party organization influence the tendency of members to work collectively on a day-to-day basis? In this paper, I explore the determinants of the relationships of legislators in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. I use exponential random graph models to evaluate the relative influence of personal traits versus party influence in generating legislator relationships. Despite a focus on personalism in Brazil, the analysis reveals that the effects of political parties on tie formation are roughly equal to the effects of personal traits, suggesting that networks may make political parties much more cohesive than contemporary literature would lead us to believe.

scholarly journals Politicians and political parties’ use of social media in-between elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Graham ◽  
Julia Schwanholz
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Relationship

Digital transformation changes the relationship between citizens and politics. The observation of this nexus is highly relevant for representative democracy. After the successful 2008 Obama campaign, a vast body of research that explores how and why politicians use social media has emerged. However, we still know very little about how social media are being adopted and used in-between elections, and still less yet about what this means for political representation. Therefore, this special issue brings together innovative research that focuses on how the use of social media is impacting upon the relationship between politicians and political parties, and citizens. First, we discuss some pros and cons of this transformation in the context of the relevant literature and, especially, in relation to Stephen Coleman’s concept of ‘direct representation’. Finally, we discuss the findings and merits of the contributions and what the issue adds to our understanding of the phenomenon to the state of research.

PEMILIHAN UMUM INDONESIA 2014 DAN PENGGUNAAN MEDIA SOSIAL

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 222-237
Author(s):  
Muhammad Edy Susilo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Active Audience ◽  
The Media ◽  
Use Of Social Media

AbstrakPemilihan umum merupakan salah satu Peristiwa penting yang akan menentukan arah perjalanan sebuahnegara. Ada 12 parti politik yang bertanding dalam pemilihan umum 2014. Pelaksanaan pemilihan umumtidak dapat dipisahkan dengan media,kerana media menjadi salah satu cara bagi parti politik untukmendapatkan pemilih. Di Indonesia, hubungan antara politik dengan media menjadi lebih rumit keranasebahagian besar ahli politik parti juga merupakan pemilik media massa nasional. Sudah menjadi sifatmedia, untuk selalu akan menyuarakan kepentingan pemiliknya. Namun, pada pemilihan umum 2014ada fenomena yang menarik iaitu luasnya penggunaan media sosial, seiring dengan meningkatnyapenggunaan internet di Indonesia. Maka, kempen politik bergeser dari ruang fizik menuju ruang maya.Jika pada pemilihan umum sebelum ini kempen politik selalu melibatkan massa yang besar, pawai atauorasi di tempat, terbuka, namun kali ini kempen yang dilakukan adalah lebih bersifat individu. Kempendilakukan melalui telefon pintar, komputer riba dan gajet yang lain. Dengan media sosial, masyarakatbukan lagi penonton yang pasif tetapi aktif. Masyarakat boleh menjadi penyampai maklumat dan bukanhanya sebagai penonton, sehingga dominasi media massa konvensional runtuh. Salah satu fenomenayang menonjol adalah munculnya Tokoh Joko Widodo, yang popular dengan nama Jokowi, sebagai salahsatu calon presiden dari Parti Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan. Jokowi berjaya menggunakan mediasosial untuk bekempen, walaupun partinya tidak memiliki media massa. Abstract General election is one of the crucial moments that will determine the development of a country. Thereare 12 political parties competing in the 2014 Indonesian national elections. The elections cannot beseparated with the media, because political parties use media in their campaign to influence voters. InIndonesia, the relationship between politics and the media becomes more complicated because most ofthe party’s political elites are also the owner of the national mass media. It is the nature of media, to alwaysbe voicing the interests of its owner. However, in the 2014 elections there is an interesting phenomenon:the increasing use of social media, along with the increasing penetration of the Internet in Indonesia. Thus,the political campaign shifted from physical space to the virtual space. If in the previous elections, politicalcampaigns always involve huge masses and rhetorics in the open space; in this election the campaigncarried more personal. Now, campaigns are conducted through smart phones, laptops and other gadgets.With social media, people are no longer passive but active audience. People can be a message producerand not just as an audience, so the conventional media dominance collapsed. One of the prominentphenomenon is the rising popularity of the president candidates from the Partai Demokrasi IndonesiaPerjuangan, Joko Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi. Jokowi has successfully used social mediafor the campaign, even though his political party does not have the mass media.

Social Media

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manpreet Kaur ◽  
Rajesh Verma
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Internet Usage ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Advanced Analysis ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Internet usage has shown drastic growth in the initial half of the year 2015 in India. The user base has increased over 354 million and with this India has become the top second country after China in terms of internet usage. Facebook is the prime social networking site which is used by 96% of urban users, followed by Google Plus (61%), Twitter (43%) and LinkedIn (24%). This extensive use of social media by the public had attracted the attention of the politicians to use it for election campaigns and has given researchers a reason to find out how politicians are engaging the public through this platform. Influence of Social media on the electorate has been proved from its successful use in the US presidential election in 2008 and by political parties in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in India. This paper intends to explore the use of social media and its effectiveness in political elections through an extensive literature review. Social media has become an effective tool for political engagement and political participation as it is a low cost media as compared to traditional media. The low cost of this media has made it one of the main source to get information for advanced analysis and in-depth understanding of the electoral process. This paper will provide an insight to politicians, political analysts, journalists and electoral candidates regarding social media usage. The paper will also present a future research agenda to study how political parties can benefit from use of social media and change their strategies to engage workers and the voters.

Can Indian journalism survive the onslaught of social media?

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha M Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Effective Use

In recent times, researchers have examined the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of social media to directly connect with his followers, while largely shunning the mainstream media. This strategy of direct communication with their constituents has been adopted by other political parties too, with opposition party leaders hosting ‘Facebook Live’ sessions and tweeting their messages. A large proportion of Indian voters, who increasingly own mobile phones, are enjoying being part of the ‘like’ and ‘share’ online networks. What does this effective use of social media by Indian political parties mean for the public discourse in India? This article presents the view that this phenomenon is more than Modi’s ‘selfie nationalism’ or his attempt to marginalize the news media. The article argues that there is a structural shift in the Indian public sphere, which might prove to be the greatest challenge to Indian journalism.

Social Media

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Manpreet Kaur ◽  
Rajesh Verma
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Internet Usage ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Internet usage has shown drastic growth in the initial half of the year 2015 in India. The user base has increased over 354 million and with this India has become the top second country after China in terms of internet usage. Facebook is the prime social networking site which is used by 96% of urban users, followed by Google Plus (61%), Twitter (43%) and LinkedIn (24%). This extensive use of social media by the public had attracted the attention of the politicians to use it for election campaigns and has given researchers a reason to find out how politicians are engaging the public through this platform. Influence of Social media on the electorate has been proved from its successful use in the US presidential election in 2008 and by political parties in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in India. This paper intends to explore the use of social media and its effectiveness in political elections through an extensive literature review. Social media has become an effective tool for political engagement and political participation as it is a low cost media as compared to traditional media. The low cost of this media has made it one of the main source to get information for advanced analysis and in-depth understanding of the electoral process. This paper will provide an insight to politicians, political analysts, journalists and electoral candidates regarding social media usage. The paper will also present a future research agenda to study how political parties can benefit from use of social media and change their strategies to engage workers and the voters.

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

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.

scholarly journals Political Parties in India, Preferring a Well-Resourced and Well-Organized Social Media Net Working for the End-Results in General Elections

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1230-1233
Author(s):  
Suseela Rao Sayana
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
The Social ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Digital Landscape ◽  
End Results

Abstract: Social Media, in the present era of electronic revolution has become the means and end of all communication as such the democracies are wondering if social media can be a valid indicator to predict election end-results. Keeping in view the demand and surge in the use of social media like Face Book, Twitter etc. the present exploration work towards the scrutiny whether the social media had any consequence on the 2014 General Elections end-results. A huge number of social media whispers for 120 days from 5th January to 5th March, 2014 of sufficient political parties in India have been considered for the present exploration. It clearly speaks that, social media whispers, occupied paramount importance on the end-results of General Elections 2014. Keywords: Political campaigns, Web technologies, Advertising, Internet, Digital Landscape, Social media tool, Mass communication

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