Social Media and Voter Participation

2012 ◽  
pp. 1596-1610
Author(s):  
Mariah Kraner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Voter Participation ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Election Process ◽  
Future Evaluation ◽  
Perceived Access

This chapter looks at the political trends associated with using social media sources as a way to enhance participation in national elections. It is hypothesized that participation has declined across groups and through time, regardless of the new uses of social media in political campaigning. The historical significance of voter participation is examined using Alexis De Tocqueville’s and Robert Putnam’s frameworks. The path is paved to examine both the importance of new media in the election process and its drawbacks. A national empirical test is presented that examines the correlation between race categories, genders, and age ranges, with the percentage of voter turnout in each presidential election year from 1964 to 2008. Regression analysis is also conducted to examine the predictive nature of increased time on national voter participation. The correlation and regression results are presented, indicating that, in general, participation has continued to decline among most groups, regardless of the perceived access and connection provided by social media outlets. However, a slight change after 1996 may indicate an effect from social media presence. The data presents a starting point for future evaluation of e-government effects on national voter participation in the election process, providing a benchmark for later empirical tests.

Social Media and Voter Participation

2012 ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Mariah Kraner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Voter Participation ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Election Process ◽  
Future Evaluation ◽  
Perceived Access

This chapter looks at the political trends associated with using social media sources as a way to enhance participation in national elections. It is hypothesized that participation has declined across groups and through time, regardless of the new uses of social media in political campaigning. The historical significance of voter participation is examined using Alexis De Tocqueville’s and Robert Putnam’s frameworks. The path is paved to examine both the importance of new media in the election process and its drawbacks. A national empirical test is presented that examines the correlation between race categories, genders, and age ranges, with the percentage of voter turnout in each presidential election year from 1964 to 2008. Regression analysis is also conducted to examine the predictive nature of increased time on national voter participation. The correlation and regression results are presented, indicating that, in general, participation has continued to decline among most groups, regardless of the perceived access and connection provided by social media outlets. However, a slight change after 1996 may indicate an effect from social media presence. The data presents a starting point for future evaluation of e-government effects on national voter participation in the election process, providing a benchmark for later empirical tests.

scholarly journals Ethnic undercurrent and macro-level determinants of voter participation in Ghana’s 2012 election: Implications for the 2020 national elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-177
Author(s):  
Seidu Mahama Alidu ◽  
Gbensuglo Alidu Bukari
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Census Data ◽  
District Level ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Voter Participation ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
Election Results

In this paper we analyze the ethnic undercurrent and macro-level determinants influencing voter participation in Ghana based on aggregate district-level data. The paper focuses on the determinants that influenced citizens’ political participation in the 2012 Presidential elections of the Fourth Republic of Ghana and their implications for the December 2020 national elections. The unique approach of this paper is that district-level aggregate data on economic characteristics compiled by the Ghana Statistical Service are synchronised with district-level national presidential election results compiled by the Electoral Commission of Ghana to ascertain the determinants of participation. The analysis is based on the concept of the “Average District Voter” which is analyzed using district-level census data combined with national election results. Statistical analysis was used to complementarily assess the determinants of voter participation in the Ghanaian 2012 presidential elections. The results of the analysis thus established two major points; that ethnic identification with regard to the two major ethnic groups in Ghana (i.e., the Asantes and the Ewes) has clearly influenced voter turnout, and second, that worsening socio-economic conditions played a role in voter turnout in the 2012 presidential elections and these issues will ultimately determine the winner of the 2020 national elections.

scholarly journals Surveillance and privacy as emerging issues in communication and media studies. An introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna E. Möller ◽  
Jakub Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
New Media ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Online Privacy ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Digital Citizenship ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Phone Number ◽  
Media Society

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Wedge Issues in Presidential Campaigns. Princeton University Press: Princeton.<br /><br />Hintz A., Dencik L., Wahl-Jorgensen K. (2019). Digital citizenship in a datafied society. Polity Press: Medford.<br /><br />Kramp L., Loosen W. (2017). The transformation of journalism: from changing newsroom cultures to a new communicative orientation? In A. Hepp, U. Hasebrink, A. Breiter (Eds.), Communicative Figurations: Rethinking mediatized transformations, Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke. pp. 205–239.<br /><br />Kruschinski. S., Haller A. (2017). Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany. Internet Policy Review, Vol. 6(4), pp. 1–23.<br /><br />Kunelius R., Heikkilä H., Russell A., Yagodin D. (Eds.). (2017). Journalism and the NSA Revelations:<br />Privacy, security, and the press. I.B. Tauris: London.<br /><br />Livingstone S. (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: Teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media &amp; Society, Vol. 10(3), 393–411.<br /><br />Lokot T. (2018). Be Safe or Be Seen? How Russian Activists Negotiate Visibility and Security in Online Resistance Practices. Surveillance &amp; Society, Vol. 16 (3), 332–346.<br /><br />Loosen W., Reimer J.; De Silva-Schmidt F. (2017). Data-Driven Reporting – an On-Going (R) Evolution? A Longitudinal Analysis of Projects Nominated for the Data Journalism Awards 2013–2015. Working Paper Series Hans-Bredow-Institut No. 41.<br /><br />Lyon D. (2002). Surveillance society: Monitoring everyday life (Repr). Issues in society. Open Uniersity Press: Buckingham.<br /><br />Marwick A. E., boyd d. (2014). Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media. New Media &amp; Society, Vol. 16(7), pp. 1051–1067.<br /><br />Möller J., von Rimscha M. B. (2017). (De)Centralization of the Global Informational Ecosystem. Media and Communication, Vol. 5(3), pp. 37–48.<br /><br />Nissenbaum H. (2004): Privacy as contextual integrity. Washington Law Review, Vol. 79(1), pp. 101–139.<br /><br />Nissenbaum H. (2010). Privacy in context: Technology, policy, and the integrity of social life. Stanford Law Books: Stanford.<br /><br />Nowak J., Möller J. E. (2018, November). Don’t hate the media. Act on media., Paper presented at the 7th ECREA Conference, Lugano, Switzerland.<br /><br />Sifry M. Facebook Wants You to Vote on Tuesday. Here’s How It Messed With Your Feed in 2012, Mother Jones, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/can-voting-facebook-button-improve-voter-turnout, 31.10.2018.<br /><br />Trepte S. (2016). The paradoxes of online privacy. In M. Walrave, K. Ponnet, E. Vanderhoven, J. Haers, B. Segaert (Eds.), Youth 2.0: Social media and adolescence. 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scholarly journals What Drives Continuance Intention towards Social Media? Social Influence and Identity Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athapol Ruangkanjanases ◽  
Shu-Ling Hsu ◽  
Yenchun Jim Wu ◽  
Shih-Chih Chen ◽  
Jo-Yu Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
New Media ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Continuance Intention ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Continuous Usage Intention

With the growth of social media communities, people now use this new media to engage in many interrelated activities. As a result, social media communities have grown into popular and interactive platforms among users, consumers and enterprises. In the social media era of high competition, increasing continuance intention towards a specific social media platform could transfer extra benefits to such virtual groups. Based on the expectation-confirmation model (ECM), this research proposed a conceptual framework incorporating social influence and social identity as key determinants of social media continuous usage intention. The research findings of this study highlight that: (1) the social influence view of the group norms and image significantly affects social identity; (2) social identity significantly affects perceived usefulness and confirmation; (3) confirmation has a significant impact on perceived usefulness and satisfaction; (4) perceived usefulness and satisfaction have positive effects on usage continuance intention. The results of this study can serve as a guide to better understand the reasons for and implications of social media usage and adoption.

scholarly journals Russian-Speaking Digital Buddhism: Neither Cyber, nor Sangha

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Timur Badmatsyrenov ◽  
Elena Ostrovskaya ◽  
Fyodor Khandarov ◽  
Innokentii Aktamov
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Graph Model ◽  
Social Shaping Of Technology ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Modeling Techniques ◽  
Social Shaping ◽  
Key Issues

The paper presents the results of a study that implemented a mixed methods approach to explore the question of correlation between online and offline activities of Buddhist organizations and communities in Russia. The research was carried out in 2019–2020 and addressed the following key issues: How do Buddhist websites and social media communities actually interact with offline organizations and Russian-speaking Buddhist communities? How do the ideological specifics of Buddhist organizations and communities influence their negotiations with the Internet and strategies towards new media technologies? Within the methodological frame of the religious–social shaping of technology approach by Heidi Campbell, we used the typology of religious digital creatives to reveal the strategies created by the Russian-speaking Buddhist communities developing their own identity, authority, and boundaries by means of digital technologies. In the first stage, we used quantitative software non-reactive methods to collect data from social media with the application of mathematical modeling techniques to build a graph model of Buddhist online communities in the vk.com social network and identify and describe its clusters. The second stage of the research combined biographical narratives of Buddhist digital creatives and expert interviews.

Estimating the Electoral Effects of Voter Turnout

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS G. HANSFORD ◽  
BRAD T. GOMEZ
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
The United States ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Electoral Choice ◽  
High Turnout ◽  
Specific Factors

This article examines the electoral consequences of variation in voter turnout in the United States. Existing scholarship focuses on the claim that high turnout benefits Democrats, but evidence supporting this conjecture is variable and controversial. Previous work, however, does not account for endogeneity between turnout and electoral choice, and thus, causal claims are questionable. Using election day rainfall as an instrumental variable for voter turnout, we are able to estimate the effect of variation in turnout due to across-the-board changes in the utility of voting. We re-examine the Partisan Effects and Two-Effects Hypotheses, provide an empirical test of an Anti-Incumbent Hypothesis, and propose a Volatility Hypothesis, which posits that high turnout produces less predictable electoral outcomes. Using county-level data from the 1948–2000 presidential elections, we find support for each hypothesis. Failing to address the endogeneity problem would lead researchers to incorrectly reject all but the Anti-Incumbent Hypothesis. The effect of variation in turnout on electoral outcomes appears quite meaningful. Although election-specific factors other than turnout have the greatest influence on who wins an election, variation in turnout significantly affects vote shares at the county, national, and Electoral College levels.

scholarly journals Social media and sentiment in bioenergy consultation

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Uren ◽  
Daniel Wright ◽  
James Scott ◽  
Yulan He ◽  
Hassan Saif
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Opinion Mining ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – This paper aims to address the following challenge: the push to widen participation in public consultation suggests social media as an additional mechanism through which to engage the public. Bioenergy companies need to build their capacity to communicate in these new media and to monitor the attitudes of the public and opposition organizations towards energy development projects. Design/methodology/approach – This short paper outlines the planning issues bioenergy developments face and the main methods of communication used in the public consultation process in the UK. The potential role of social media in communication with stakeholders is identified. The capacity of sentiment analysis to mine opinions from social media is summarised and illustrated using a sample of tweets containing the term “bioenergy”. Findings – Social media have the potential to improve information flows between stakeholders and developers. Sentiment analysis is a viable methodology, which bioenergy companies should be using to measure public opinion in the consultation process. Preliminary analysis shows promising results. Research limitations/implications – Analysis is preliminary and based on a small dataset. It is intended only to illustrate the potential of sentiment analysis and not to draw general conclusions about the bioenergy sector. Social implications – Social media have the potential to open access to the consultation process and help bioenergy companies to make use of waste for energy developments. Originality/value – Opinion mining, though established in marketing and political analysis, is not yet systematically applied as a planning consultation tool. This is a missed opportunity.

Doing Text

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pete Bennett ◽  
Julian McDougall
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Film Noir ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Critical Space ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
Romantic Poetry ◽  
Art Works ◽  
Media Formats

This volume re-imagines the study of English and media in a way that decentralises the text (e.g. romantic poetry or film noir) or media formats/platforms (e.g. broadcast media/new media). Instead, the authors work across boundaries in meaningful thematic contexts that reflect the ways in which people engage with reading, watching, making, and listening in their textual lives. In so doing, the volume recasts both subjects as combined in a more reflexive, critical space for the study of our everyday social and cultural interactions. Across the chapters, the authors present applicable learning and teaching strategies that weave together art works, films, social practices, creativity, 'viral' media, theater, TV, social media, videogames, and literature. The culmination of this range of strategies is a reclaimed 'blue skies' approach to progressive textual education, free from constraining shackles of outdated ideas about textual categories and value that have hitherto alienated generations of students and both English and media from themselves.

From lords of war to leaders in society: How former Liberian warlords have used ‘old’ and ‘new’ media to self-reframe

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine O’Mahony ◽  
Jo Ellen Fair
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Born Again

The process of post-conflict reconstruction in Liberia involves an array of actors vying for power. Many of the key political and civic figures involved are former warlords, whose reigns of terror affected many they now work with and serve. By reframing themselves through social media these warlords have created new centers of power, embracing their new roles as public servants and renouncing past acts of terrorism. This article focuses on two of Liberia’s most notorious former warlords, Prince Johnson and Joshua Blahyi. Johnson, now Senator Johnson, was best known for swilling beer while he conducted the video-taped torture of President Doe. Joshua Blahyi, formerly General Butt Naked, who infamously drank children’s blood before running naked into battle, is now a born-again preacher with his own faith-based NGO. We argue that their use of social media has enabled them to reconstruct and reframe their ‘past lives’, ensuring these cannot become political liabilities.

Confessions and Tweets: Social Media and Everyday Experience in the Israel Defense Forces

2019 ◽  
pp. 0095327X1985930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nehemia Stern ◽  
Uzi Ben Shalom
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Israel Defense Forces ◽  
Israeli Soldiers

This article explores the social media postings of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on two different and unofficial Facebook groups. While scholars of armed forces and society have noted the growing importance that militaries have placed on digital media, there is little data regarding the unofficial uses and meanings that regular soldiers themselves make of social networking sites. With an anthropological focus on everyday experiences, we argue that the social media activity of IDF personnel highlights the quotidian aspects of military life in ways that reverberate beyond the strictly ideological or political facets of their service. Here, soldiers can express their frustrations with military bureaucracy, while also presenting a lighthearted (and positive) commentary on a shared rite of passage. This research opens a window into the lives and dilemmas of the first generation of Israeli soldiers to employ new media as a taken for granted aspect of their service.

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