Social media tools as an instrument of modern political engagement: The attitudes of students in Serbia

In the early days of the Internet, many political communication theorists held the utopian belief that political actors would use online tools to communicate directly with members of the public, and thereby bolster political engagement and enrich democracy. Unfortunately, studies over the past two decades found that political websites were not usually used to interact directly with the public, but instead were used to simply disseminate information in a one-way information-sharing model. However, the emergence of social media sites presents political actors with the opportunity to interact with the public far more easily than websites had previously allowed. Given the widespread adoption and high usage rates of social media sites, these online resources could potentially open up a space for public discussion about politics and allow political actors to interact directly with members of the public. Literature indicates that this type of shared space is conducive to the kind of civic mindset that leads to higher rates of political engagement. Research on political uses of social media tends to focus on the use of social media engagement. Research on political uses of social media tends to focus on the use of social media within elections, such as the 2008 U.S presidential election, and on the use of social media by national governments. I have chosen instead to examine how a group of municipal councilors in Toronto, Ontario uses social media. These politicians have the greatest need to interact directly with individuals throughout their term of service because municipal councilors are expected to know the members of their ward far more intimately than federal, or even provincial, politicians. My study focuses on the use of Facebook because literature indicates that it is the most political social media platform and that it presents politicians with the greatest opportunity to foster political engagement online. Through analysis of the Facebook pages of Toronto city councilors this study examines the degree to which councilors use Facebook to engage their followers, whether certain citizens are consistently engaged in ongoing political discussions, and whether small communities of politically engaged citizens develop around the Facebook profiles of councilors.

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Young Citizen's Political Engagement in India

Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development - Examining the Roles of IT and Social Media in Democratic Development and Social Change ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-1791-8.ch005 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 115-132

Author(s):

Mandakini Paruthi ◽

Priyam Mendiratta ◽

Gaurav Gupta

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Relations ◽

Political Communication ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Major Influence ◽

Digital Citizenship ◽

Digital Medium ◽

General Elections ◽

Marketing Tool ◽

Use Of Social Media

Social media has emerged as a dominant digital medium platform in contemporary society. The quick development of social media has instigated changes concerning the way publics to interact with a group of people with similar ideologies, the quality of information they share, or the opportunity to acquire and share ideas. Social media use has a major influence on public relations, marketing, and political communication. Therefore, politicians are formulating their strategies to reach increasingly networked individuals. The chapter defines political engagement concept, focuses on excessive use of social media to understand how the emergence of digital citizenship is changing political engagement. In addition to this, the chapter also examines whether the use of social media exercise any effect on 2014 and 2019. General elections outcome or not and discuss the proposed conceptual framework for future empirical testing. The chapter highlights the various concerns needed to be taken care of while using social media as a marketing tool for promoting political participation and engagement.

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E-Electioneering 2007–13: Trends in Online Political Campaigns over Three Elections

Media International Australia ◽

10.1177/1329878x1415200107 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 152 (1) ◽

pp. 57-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jim Macnamara ◽

Gail Kenning

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Communication ◽

Turning Point ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Political Campaigns ◽

Election Campaign ◽

Democratic Engagement ◽

Us Presidential Election ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

Presidential Election Campaign

Following the 2004 US presidential election campaign, which was described as ‘a critical turning point’ in use of social media, and particularly the 2008 Obama campaign, there has been increasing focus on use of social media for political campaigning and what is termed e-electioneering and e-democracy. However, studies of election campaigns between 2010 and 2012 in a number of countries have identified what Steve Woolgar (2002) calls cyberbole in relation to social media for political engagement. With substantive patterns of change in political communication yet to be identified, a quantitative and qualitative study of social media use in the 2013 Australian federal election campaign was conducted using the same methodology as studies of the 2007 and 2010 campaigns to gain comparative longitudinal data. This identified trends in the volume of e-electioneering and the ways in which social media are being used for political communication and democratic engagement.

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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.

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Media Sosial dan Budaya Politik Generasi Milineal dalam Pemilu

ARISTO ◽

10.24269/ars.v7i2.1608 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 228 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kokom Komariah ◽

Dede Sri Kartini

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Communication ◽

Political Behavior ◽

Millennial Generation ◽

The Political ◽

Media Content ◽

Local Election ◽

The Social ◽

The Media ◽

Use Of Social Media

Social media nowadays has been crutial part of human being life particularly for the genarations those are so called millenial. The massive use of social media is not merely functioned for the social purpose such as information sharing among them but also has been used for business and economic or even political purposes. The local election of the Jawa Barat province in the year of 2018 is a moment where the millineal generation functioned the social media such as facebook and whattsap for the political purposes. This article discusses the phenomenon of using internet-based social media as an instrument in political communication and campaigning in the local election of West Java Province in 2018 as well as discussing the effectiveness of the media contents in shaping the pattern of millennial generation political behavior. The research adopts is qualitative approach by taking the object of research on political communication, as well as culture and political behavior. The main informants from this study were beginner voters who also catogerisaed as the group of the millennial generation. This study found that social media contents in general became an important instrument in shaping the pattern of political behavior of the millennial generation. The roles of the media for instance are indicated that current life of the millennial generation that cannot be separated from such media, social media contents provides political knowledges about profiles of candidates in local election, social media content provided political education both related to the technical implementation of the election and also the vision and mission of the candidates and, millennial generation have their respective communities which they make as a forum for discussion about the social media contents.

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Entrepreneurial marketing and digital political communication – a citizen-led perspective on the role of social media in political discourse

Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship ◽

10.1108/jrme-12-2018-0066 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 145-159

Author(s):

Nihar Amoncar

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Communication ◽

Online Communities ◽

Political Discourse ◽

The Political ◽

Fake News ◽

Political Debate ◽

Content Type ◽

Entrepreneurial Marketing ◽

Use Of Social Media

Purpose The paper intends to explore the role and function of citizen-led social media forums in the marketing of political discourse. Using the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) perspective of “co-creation of value”, this paper aims to explore the manner in which consumers of political communications in a specific region have created user generated value via setting up Facebook forums to manage the risk created by fake news and the trust deficit between citizens and mainstream media (MSM). Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a “netnographic” approach to investigation and the data is analysed manual coding (Kozinets, 2015). Facebook groups form the virtual research field in in the context of this study. This approach is adopted because in a social media environment, netnography capitalises over a growing virtual and online communities and allows researchers to study the richness of these online communities (Mkono and Markwell, 2014). Findings The study provides insights on how administrators and moderators of Facebook groups create value for other users by identifying and communicating the risks emerging from social media-based political communication. The study finds that such citizen-led initiatives act as online social aggregators. The value that such groups offer its users/members resides within a well-bound, controlled and moderated online medium that encourages users to counter fake news and misinformation – thereby solving a key problem within the user market i.e. citizen-media trust deficit. Research limitations/implications The study uses a qualitative, netnographic approach and the emerging insights cannot be generalised. The emergent findings are specific to the context of this study and researchers are encouraged to further test the propositions emerging from this research in varied contexts. Practical implications The study extends the application of EM in political contexts using the seven dimensions of EM, which will provide impetus for future political campaigns in terms of unique value creation for publics. The paper also emerges with the role citizen-initiated forums can play in the effective dissemination of digital political communication as user generated content is aiding political debate. Social implications The study helps highlight the role Facebook forums can play in informing the political discourse within a region. The general distrust amongst the citizens over information produced by MSM has meant vocal critics have taken to Facebook to provide their subjective opinions. Although the findings of this study show that such forums can help identify “fake news” and help citizens discuss and debate the truth, it can also become an avenue to manage propaganda amongst the “unaware” citizens. This paper flags up the issues and benefits of using Facebook forums and in conclusion relates them to similar occurrences of the past to make society aware of the pitfalls of managed propaganda. Originality/value The paper takes initiative in investigating the use of social media in politics from the citizens’ perspective, which is comparatively marginalised against the number of studies taking place, which investigate the political party end use of social media for political marketing.

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Understanding variations in user response to social media campaigns: A study of Facebook posts in the 2010 US elections

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444815616617 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 826-842 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Michael A Xenos ◽

Timothy Macafee ◽

Antoinette Pole

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Digital Media ◽

Contextual Factors ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Political Candidates ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Media Campaigns ◽

Social Media Tools ◽

Online Campaigning ◽

Use Of Social Media

Political candidates increasingly have incorporated social media tools like Facebook into their campaigns. Such tools enable supporters to interact directly and easily with campaigns, creating an immediate and relatively informal way for users to respond to candidate messages and publicly display their support. Previous research has explored how campaigns have used social media, or how the use of social media may be related to political engagement. In this study, we provide a systematic analysis of variations in user response to candidate messaging through Facebook. Our results shed new light on the dynamics of online campaigning through social media and engagement with supporters through digital media. Specifically, our findings show that variations in the tone, timing, and content of posts, as distinct from contextual factors, are significantly related to how users respond through “likes” and comments.

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EXAMINING COMMUNICATION MEDIATION MODEL ON YOUTH ONLINE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

Profetik Jurnal Komunikasi ◽

10.14421/pjk.v13i2.1841 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 340

Author(s):

Hasbullah Azis ◽

Pawito Pawito ◽

Agung Satyawan

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Political Efficacy ◽

Political Information ◽

Social Utility ◽

The Political ◽

Mediation Model ◽

Chinese Youth ◽

Use Of Social Media

Using a communication mediation model, the present study tested the influencing factor of social media utilization on the political engagement on social media. Through O-S-O-R model proposed by McLeod, Kosicki, and McLeod, this study tested the correlation between pre-exposure (motivation) – Stimulus (media social use) – post-exposure orientation (political efficacy) – Response (political engagement) in the context of Chinese youth of Singkawang. By analyzing the Pearson correlation and linear regression of 125 respondents collected through a questionnaire, this model resulted in several findings, for example, motivation had a relationship with the use of social media for political information purposes where social utility motives had a more significant effect than other motives. The use of political information media had an influence on an individual's internal and collective efficacy rather than external efficacy. Political efficacy generated by the use of social media had an influence on the political engagement of Singkawang Chinese youth even though external efficacy was deemed a negative predictor of political engagement.

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Social media and democracy: How the Facebook usage patterns of Toronto city councilors influence political engagement

10.32920/ryerson.14646135.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Campbell

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Political Communication ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Small Communities ◽

Political Actors ◽

The Public ◽

Usage Patterns ◽

Media Platform ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

National Governments

In the early days of the Internet, many political communication theorists held the utopian belief that political actors would use online tools to communicate directly with members of the public, and thereby bolster political engagement and enrich democracy. Unfortunately, studies over the past two decades found that political websites were not usually used to interact directly with the public, but instead were used to simply disseminate information in a one-way information-sharing model. However, the emergence of social media sites presents political actors with the opportunity to interact with the public far more easily than websites had previously allowed. Given the widespread adoption and high usage rates of social media sites, these online resources could potentially open up a space for public discussion about politics and allow political actors to interact directly with members of the public. Literature indicates that this type of shared space is conducive to the kind of civic mindset that leads to higher rates of political engagement. Research on political uses of social media tends to focus on the use of social media engagement. Research on political uses of social media tends to focus on the use of social media within elections, such as the 2008 U.S presidential election, and on the use of social media by national governments. I have chosen instead to examine how a group of municipal councilors in Toronto, Ontario uses social media. These politicians have the greatest need to interact directly with individuals throughout their term of service because municipal councilors are expected to know the members of their ward far more intimately than federal, or even provincial, politicians. My study focuses on the use of Facebook because literature indicates that it is the most political social media platform and that it presents politicians with the greatest opportunity to foster political engagement online. Through analysis of the Facebook pages of Toronto city councilors this study examines the degree to which councilors use Facebook to engage their followers, whether certain citizens are consistently engaged in ongoing political discussions, and whether small communities of politically engaged citizens develop around the Facebook profiles of councilors.

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Young Citizen's Political Engagement in India

10.4018/978-1-6684-3706-3.ch031 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 594-607

Author(s):

Mandakini Paruthi ◽

Priyam Mendiratta ◽

Gaurav Gupta

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Relations ◽

Political Communication ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Major Influence ◽

Digital Citizenship ◽

Digital Medium ◽

General Elections ◽

Marketing Tool ◽

Use Of Social Media

Social media has emerged as a dominant digital medium platform in contemporary society. The quick development of social media has instigated changes concerning the way publics to interact with a group of people with similar ideologies, the quality of information they share, or the opportunity to acquire and share ideas. Social media use has a major influence on public relations, marketing, and political communication. Therefore, politicians are formulating their strategies to reach increasingly networked individuals. The chapter defines political engagement concept, focuses on excessive use of social media to understand how the emergence of digital citizenship is changing political engagement. In addition to this, the chapter also examines whether the use of social media exercise any effect on 2014 and 2019. General elections outcome or not and discuss the proposed conceptual framework for future empirical testing. The chapter highlights the various concerns needed to be taken care of while using social media as a marketing tool for promoting political participation and engagement.

Download Full-text