Youth collective political expression on social media: The role of affordances and memetic dimensions for voicing political views

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1988-2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana Literat ◽  
Neta Kligler-Vilenchik

Social media are recognized as important outlets for youth political expression, yet the affordances of different platforms may shape the forms and styles of expression that young people deploy. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the ways social media affordances shape youth voice, this article examines young people’s political expression on the popular app musical.ly in the context of the 2016 US presidential election. Employing quantitative and qualitative content analysis on 1651 youth-created videos, we examine how young people use platform affordances, political hashtags, and memetic dimensions to convey a range of expressive political practices. In particular, through the analysis of content, form, and stance, our research illuminates how social media afford collective political expression for youth, by allowing them to deliberately connect to an assumed like-minded audience with similar beliefs through the use of shared symbolic resources.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110088
Author(s):  
Ioana Literat ◽  
Neta Kligler-Vilenchik

Adopting a comparative cross-platform approach, we examine youth political expression and conversation on social media, as prompted by popular culture. Tracking a common case study—the practice of building Donald Trump’s border wall within the videogame Fortnite—across three social media platforms popular with youth (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram), we ask: How do popular culture artifacts prompt youth political expression, as well as cross-cutting political talk with those holding different political views, across social media platforms? A mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis of around 6,400 comments posted on relevant artifacts, illuminates youth popular culture as a shared symbolic resource that stimulates communication within and across political differences—although, as our findings show, it is often deployed in a disparaging manner. This cross-platform analysis, grounded in contemporary youth culture and sociopolitical dynamics, enables a deeper understanding of the interplay between popular culture, cross-cutting political talk, and the role that different social media platforms play in shaping these expressive practices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Nina Gorenc

The research behind this paper is set in the context of the 2016 US presidential election that has come to symbolize the post-truth era. We conducted a literature review on the 2016 election, with the aim to better understand the impact of computational propaganda on the election outcome and on the behaviour of voters. The paper opens with a definition of post-truth society and related concepts such as fake news and computational propaganda. It explores the changes of political communication in a digital environment and analyses the role of social media in the 2016 election. It probes into phenomena such as the trivialization of politics and the loss of credibility of political actors, which are both common in post-truth societies. The reviewed literature seems to indicate that social media have become strong actors on the political stage, but so far not the predominant source of political information and influence on the behaviour of voters. The paper makes two important contributions. Firstly, drawing on the concept of post-truth society, it analyses the role of computational propaganda in the 2016 presidential election, and secondly, it attempts to explain the paradox of general political apathy on one hand, and increased political activism on the other. These are some of the challenges we are now facing, and in order to be able to cope with them it is important to acknowledge and understand them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Heather C. Hughes ◽  
Israel Waismel-Manor

ABSTRACTDuring the 2016 US presidential election, Americans were exposed to an onslaught of disinformation on social media. Many of the most viral posts originated from Veles, a small town in central Macedonia. During fieldwork in Veles, where we interviewed several residents and disinformation creators, we found that the epicenter of this viral phenomenon was Mirko Ceselkoski, an autodidact social media expert, teacher, and mentor to Veles’ fake news operators. We interviewed Ceselkoski and registered and attended his online course—the same course numerous Veles residents took offline. Our research confirms (1) the pivotal role Ceselkoski had in the creation of this industry; (2) the economic motivation driving the fake news disseminators; and (3) the manner in which the mostly young people in their early twenties with little English fluency were able to generate so much traffic and disseminate so much disinformation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Indrawati Indrawati

The Form of Persuasion and Milennials Respon in Facebook Social Media inPresidential Election 2019. This research aims to reveal how the persuasion andresponse of millennials on social media Facebook in the 2019 presidentialelection. This research uses methods of qualitative content analysis. The data theauthor takes is data on Facebook social media from February to April 2019. Formof data in the form of sentences that have a persuasion message used by millennialson social media Facebook in the presidential election 2019. The source of thisresearch data observations directly on social media Facebook which thenresearchers Screenshoot. Data analysis is done in several ways, namely: (1)Observation of the sentence upload on Facebook social media, (2) reading andunderstanding sentences that have a persuasion meaning, (3) grouping,identifying, and analyzing existing data, (4) Conclude the results of researchanalysis. Data analysis is done during and after the data is collected. This researchimplements triangulation and data checking to obtain the validity of data. Basedon the research, there are several form of persuasion in uploading sentences ofmillennials in facebook social media in presidential election 2019. Thatpersuasion form are: (1) persuasion form and millennials respond with strongarguments, (2) persuasion form and respond with neutral arguments, (3)persuasion form and millennials respond with weak arguments, (4) persuasionform and millennials respond with peripheral.Key words: persuasion, milenialls, facebook social media AbstrakWujud Persuasi dan Respon Kaum Milenial di Media Sosial Facebook padaPilpres 2019. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengungkapkan bagaimana wujud persuasidan respon kaum milenial di media sosial facebook pada pilpres 2019. Penelitianini menggunakan metode analisis isi kualitatif. Data yang penulis ambil adalahdata yang terdapat di media sosial facebook dari bulan Februari sampai denganApril 2019. Wujud data berupa kalimat yang memiliki pesan persuasi yang dipakaikaum milenial di media sosial facebook pada pilpres 2019. Sumber data penelitianini pengamatan langsung di media sosial facebook yang kemudian penelitiscreenshoot. Analisis data dilakukan dengan beberapa cara, yaitu: (1)pengamatan terhadap unggahan kalimat di media sosial facebook, (2) membacadan memahami kalimat yang memiliki makna persuasi, (3) mengelompokkan,mengidentifikasi, dan menganalisis data yang ada, (4) menyimpulkan hasilanalisis penelitian. Analisis data dilakukan selama dan setelah data terkumpul.Penelitian ini menerapkan triangulasi dan pengecekan data untuk memperolehkeabsahan data. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, ditemukan beberapa wujudpersuasi dalam kalimat unggahan kaum mileniual di media sosial facebook padapilpres 2019. Wujud persuasi tersebut meliputi: (1) Wujud persuasi dan responkaum milenial dengan argumen kuat (strong argumens); (2) Wujud persuasi danrespon kaum milenial dengan argumen netral (neutral argumens);(3) Wujudpersuasi dan respon kaum milenial dengan argumen lemah (weak argumens); dan(4) wujud persuasi dan respon kaum milenial dengan argumen sampingan(peripheral).Kata-kata kunci: persuasi, kaum milenial, media sosial facebook


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Putri Handayani Lubis ◽  
Maria Puspitasari

Entrepreneurship often becomes an alternative profession, while in fact, being an entrepreneur is a strategic choice which is ideally based on strong determination and belief that it is able to change the quality of life. Sandiaga Uno used entrepreneurship narration during the 2019 presidential election campaign in his social media in order to influence the youth. The present study aimed to explore Sandiaga Uno’s entrepreneurship narration on Instagram and to identify the narration in influencing young people during the 2019 presidential election campaign. This study was categorized as qualitative research with thematic analysis. The result of the study found that Uno’s campaign narration focused more on hopes. His narration of entrepreneurship focused on motivating the Millenials without explaining further about the risk of being an entrepreneur and how to fund and maintain a business. Uno utilizes his background as an entrepreneur by motivating his campaign. Uno also invited celebrities and several Actors who have businesses to motivate young people to become entrepreneurs. Risk management needed in an entrepreneur because many entrepreneurs are not prepared to deal with risk so the business that was built cannot last. Likewise, there are still many entrepreneurs who cannot make the most of existing technology to develop its business because of its capacity.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174276652110399
Author(s):  
Jane O’Boyle ◽  
Carol J Pardun

A manual content analysis compares 6019 Twitter comments from six countries during the 2016 US presidential election. Twitter comments were positive about Trump and negative about Clinton in Russia, the US and also in India and China. In the UK and Brazil, Twitter comments were largely negative about both candidates. Twitter sources for Clinton comments were more frequently from journalists and news companies, and still more negative than positive in tone. Topics on Twitter varied from those in mainstream news media. This foundational study expands communications research on social media, as well as political communications and international distinctions.


Author(s):  
Ashik Shafi ◽  
Fred Vultee

Presidential campaigns today are increasingly integrating social media such as Facebook as an efficient tool to communicate with the public and organize their supporters. In a bid to explore how the Facebook is used by the politicians during election campaigns, this chapter explored official Facebook posts by two presidential candidates ahead of the 2012 US presidential election. The findings suggest Facebook was used in the campaign as a platform to organize like-minded voters, and reporting a virtual presence to the voters. Facebook was used strategically to resonate with the real-life campaign, and disseminate instant messages, rather than engaging in discussion with the public. The two candidates had only minor difference in the characteristics of their Facebook contents. The implication of the research for the online political agenda-building tactics is discussed.


2019 ◽  
pp. 228-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Dutton ◽  
Bianca C. Reisdorf ◽  
Grant Blank ◽  
Elizabeth Dubois ◽  
Laleah Fernandez

Concern over filter bubbles, echo chambers, and misinformation on the Internet are not new. However, as noted by Howard and Bradshaw (Chapter 12), events around the 2016 US presidential election and the UK’s Brexit referendum brought these concerns up again to near-panic levels, raising questions about the political implications of the algorithms that drive search engines and social media. To address these issues, the authors conducted an extensive survey of Internet users in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the US, asking respondents how they use search, social media, and other media for getting information about politics, and what difference these media have made for them. Their findings demonstrate that search is one among many media gateways and outlets deployed by those interested in politics, and that Internet users with an interest in politics and search skills are unlikely to be trapped in a filter bubble, or cocooned in a political echo chamber.


2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (S1) ◽  
pp. 257-283
Author(s):  
Daniel S Lane

Abstract Scholars have often used generational changes in citizenship norms to theorize new forms of youth political expression on social media. Public opinion data has been employed to demonstrate that young people’s perceptions of what it means to be a “good citizen” (i.e., injunctive citizenship norms) have shifted toward models of citizenship that value self-expression. Yet several fundamental assumptions of this dominant image of the young “expressive citizen” remain untested. Using data from a national survey of young Americans (ages 18–24) collected during the 2018 US midterm election, the present study examines: a) if youth indeed view expression as a relatively important part of being a good citizen; and b) if injunctive norms concerning political expression are positively associated with engagement in political expression on social media. Findings indicate that injunctive expressive norms are distinct, but rated as the least important of all injunctive norms. Further, injunctive expressive norms were only modestly associated with social media political expression and difficult to empirically distinguish from what respondents viewed as personally important (i.e., personal expressive norms). While these findings challenge the way past research has theorized and measured the normative role of political expression among young people, they also reveal promising future directions. Specifically, the finding that traditionally marginalized youth place more normative value on political self-expression suggests an important next step for studying the expressive citizen in the age of social media.


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