Terri L Towner

Oakland University · Department of Political Science

Mass media can set the public’s agenda, particularly during political campaigns. In the social media era, the public can now also set the mass media’s agenda, resulting in intermedia agenda setting. This study’s purpose is to examine the intermedia agenda-setting effects between Instagram posts and mainstream newspapers during the 2016 presidential...

This chapter investigates the link between young adults' attention to campaign information on offline and online media and their knowledge about political facts and candidate issues. The findings, based on a unique, three-wave panel survey conducted during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, show that attention to campaign information on offline s...

Instagram emerged as a pivotal campaign tool in the 2016 presidential campaign. This study examines the agenda-setting effects between the presidential primary candidates’ Instagram posts and articles published in the mainstream newspapers during the primary period. A reciprocal relationship between Democratic and Republican candidates’ Instagram p...

The 2016 presidential primary candidates expanded their social media marketing campaigns to include the image and video-centered social network platform Instagram. To explore the role that images play in framing political character development and to identify which images received higher levels of engagement, content analyses were performed on the...

This chapter investigates the link between young adults' attention to campaign information on offline and online media and their knowledge about political facts and candidate issues. The findings, based on a unique, three-wave panel survey conducted during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, show that attention to campaign information on offline s...

Facebook posts, YouTube videos, tweets and wooing political bloggers have become standard practice in marketing political campaigns. Research has demonstrated the effect of new media on a host of politically-related behavior, including political participation, knowledge acquisition, group formation and self-efficacy. Yet, issues related to media tr...

We examine newspaper coverage of the US Supreme Court confirmation process to investigate whether Sonia Sotomayor received different coverage than other nominees due to her status as a minority woman. Sotomayor was the only justice seated over the last three decades who received extensive attention to her race and gender, and her coverage was more...

Research on the influence of class size on student academic achievement is important for university instructors, administrators, and students. The article examines the influence of class size — a small section versus a large section — in introductory political science courses on student grades in two comparable semesters. It is expected that studen...

A considerable number of studies have investigated the influence of new media on political attitudes and behaviors. However, much of this research focuses on young people, ignoring other age cohorts, particularly Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). To fill this gap, this research examines the influence of attention to specific forms of tradi...

The number of people actively participating in online social networking is ever increasing. According to a Pew Research Center survey (Smith, 2014), 16 percent of registered voters follow political candidates, parties, or officials on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; this has increased from 6 percent since 2010. Forty-one perce...

In the United States, the Supreme Court has a substantial influence on policymaking, and its rulings shape attitudes toward important, often highly controversial, issues. Therefore, it is critical for citizens to understand decisions handed down by the Court. Unlike presidents and members of Congress, however, Supreme Court justices do not hold pre...

This research examined the influence of attention to specific forms of traditional and online media on young adults’ online and offline political participation as well as voter turnout during the fall 2012 presidential campaign. A three-wave panel survey demonstrated that attention to traditional media did not increase offline and online political...

Due to the aggressive use of social media during the 2008 US presidential elections, Barack Obama’s campaign is considered one of the most successful in history. Web 2.0 tools, such as YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace, were employed extensively by the Obama campaign to raise funds as well as to target, organize, and mobilize voters. As a testament to...

Technology is an ever-evolving aspect of political campaigns in the United States. Even before the days when sophisticated survey research or television advertising burst on the scene, campaigners were seeking ways to campaign more efficiently and effectively. The Internet has provided a wealth of opportunities for candidates and their campaigns to...

This manuscript examines Facebook’s potential to support teaching and learning, particularly as a course management platform. We share survey data collected from instructors and students regarding their usage and attitudes toward Facebook and more traditional web courseware. Lastly, we compare how each use web courseware and Facebook for educationa...

The evolving world of the Internet - blogs, podcasts, wikis, social networks - offers instructors and students radically new ways to research, communicate, and learn. Integrating these Internet tools into the college classroom, however, is not an easy task. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the role of social networking in educat...

The 2008 US presidential election was called the ‘YouTube Election’. However, scholars know little about how the internet influences attitudes toward politics. To address this, we conduct an experiment to test the effects of exposure to the YouTube channel, ‘YouChoose’08’, on young adults during the 2008 US presidential election. We find that those...

The 2008 U.S. presidential election saw the first significant integration of Web 2.0 technologies; however, scholars know little about how Web 2.0 sources influence political attitudes. To address this, the authors test the effects of exposure to various Web 2.0 sources during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. They find that young adults exposed...

Facebook has become an essential part of student life for most college students; it serves not only as a primary tool of communication but also electronic socialization (Golder, Wilkinson, & Huberman, 2007). Indeed, the vast majority of college students have a Facebook account and are spending a considerable amount of time logged in (Salaway, Carus...

Social network sites have become an integral part of consumers’ lives, yet should they also be integrated into formal education processes? The purpose of this paper is to advocate using Facebook within the advertising classroom. Specifically, it explores not only the advantages and disadvantages of this new Web 2.0 medium, but also illustrates the...

Many mainstream newspapers have diversified their organizations—at least to some extent—by hiring minority journalists. Some scholars argue that a diversified newsroom will improve media coverage of minority communities and issues; others think that the power of journalistic norms will constrain minority journalists so that they will be unable or u...

The purpose of this research is to propose the idea of using the social network site, Facebook, for teacher education. Specifically, this research explores the advantages of this new Web 2.0 medium, and illustrates the different levels of course integration at an instructor’s disposal. In addition, it provides specific instructions on how to use Fa...