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Digital Politics: Mobilization, Engagement, and Participation
... The questions were created according to aspects detected in the previous literature on political participation in the digital environment (Boczek & Koppers, 2019;Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017;Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2021;Lappas et al., 2022;Pang & Woo, 2020). In this regard, actions related to three functions are distinguished: information, participation, and engagement. ...
... It is primarily used to publish or share content related to current news. In line with the results previously obtained(Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017), WhatsApp is used similarly to other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, in which citizens feel free to comment on the news with other users. Therefore, in line with what is argued by Casero-Ripollés (2018), WhatsApp is becoming a primary source for information and news, in which users receive information about current affairs and share it among contacts. ...
Mobile instant messaging services such as WhatsApp have become increasingly relevant among citizens in recent years. By a quantitative approach based on a survey (n=1,202), our objective is to find out why citizens use WhatsApp and, to be more specific, why they use the WhatsApp service offered by the city council of the municipality of residence where they live. The results show how age, gender, and the respondents' educational level are related to the different uses they make of WhatsApp, especially concerning actions related to participation. Second, the local government WhatsApp service still has an intermediate penetration among citizens, so there is much room for improvement. Finally, the data reveals that age and gender determine the uses of the City Council WhatsApp service. These findings provide interesting data for local governments to improve the relationship with citizens through this mobile communication tool.
... The debate on the political function of social media is therefore still open, with many arguing that digital tools are rarely used in order to engage with political parties or electoral candidates and that their main role is focused on the contribution to learning and to the building of communities, facilitating the participation and the engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017), and even if we were to compare them with other types of participation such as protests and, above all, civic engagement (Boulianne, 2015), the relationship between the use of social media and participation in electoral campaigns is much weaker. However, social media have become an important arena of action, especially for organisations belonging to civil society, so that, besides mobilising efforts during electoral campaigns, mobilisation also occurs in other moments (Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993), resulting in a political participation more oriented towards civic engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). ...
... The debate on the political function of social media is therefore still open, with many arguing that digital tools are rarely used in order to engage with political parties or electoral candidates and that their main role is focused on the contribution to learning and to the building of communities, facilitating the participation and the engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017), and even if we were to compare them with other types of participation such as protests and, above all, civic engagement (Boulianne, 2015), the relationship between the use of social media and participation in electoral campaigns is much weaker. However, social media have become an important arena of action, especially for organisations belonging to civil society, so that, besides mobilising efforts during electoral campaigns, mobilisation also occurs in other moments (Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993), resulting in a political participation more oriented towards civic engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). ...
Over the last few years, social media have become important instruments for the construction of political engagement, thus generating a new space of analysis which allows the use of advanced research techniques, such as text mining or machine learning. In this chapter, we review the fundamental interpretation of political engagement, the debate on the very concept of engagement and its relationship with political participation through social media. Including emotions in the analysis of this relationship allowed us to verify the importance of emotional framing, especially the negative one, as a generator of political engagement.
... The debate on the political function of social media is therefore still open, with many arguing that digital tools are rarely used in order to engage with political parties or electoral candidates and that their main 142 role is focused on the contribution to learning and to the building of communities, facilitating the participation and the engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017), and even if we were to compare them with other types of participation such as protests and, above all, civic engagement (Boulianne, 2015), the relationship between the use of social media and participation in electoral campaigns is much weaker. However, social media have become an important arena of action, especially for organisations belonging to civil society, so that, besides mobilising efforts during electoral campaigns, mobilisation also occurs in other moments (Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993), resulting in a political participation more oriented towards civic engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). ...
... The debate on the political function of social media is therefore still open, with many arguing that digital tools are rarely used in order to engage with political parties or electoral candidates and that their main 142 role is focused on the contribution to learning and to the building of communities, facilitating the participation and the engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017), and even if we were to compare them with other types of participation such as protests and, above all, civic engagement (Boulianne, 2015), the relationship between the use of social media and participation in electoral campaigns is much weaker. However, social media have become an important arena of action, especially for organisations belonging to civil society, so that, besides mobilising efforts during electoral campaigns, mobilisation also occurs in other moments (Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993), resulting in a political participation more oriented towards civic engagement (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). ...
Immersive storytelling has changed the way information is produced, distributed, and even consumed by viewers. Media, NGOs, and political parties have understood virtual reality technologies and 360-degree video as an opportunity to connect with users and deliver a closer and more immersive event experience. Regarding political communication, elections (campaigns, rallies, and debates) have been the most fertile ground for immersive storytelling. Using several cases as examples, this chapter addresses the opportunities immersive storytelling presents for institutional communication and public relations, as well as the ethical challenges posed by such content.
... Now, with the growing availability of new digital technologies, governments are increasingly inviting a growing number of citizens to participate in policy-making [3,62,90]. Digital citizen participation platforms have been used to foster digital mass participation at different policy levels, ranging from participatory budgeting and local and national law-making to constitution-making [10,42,44,48,79]. ...
... This does not necessarily mean that existing processes will be replaced, but they do open up new channels for participation that have the potential to significantly widen the range of citizens engaged in law-and policy-making. Further, digital mass participation also allows for more sustained citizen participation tools between election cycles [2], which means that citizens will be empowered, better informed, and more active in their political engagement [42,53]. ...
The development of democratic systems is a crucial task as confirmed by its selection as one of the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. In this article, we report on the progress of a project that aims to address barriers, one of which is information overload, to achieving effective direct citizen participation in democratic decision-making processes. The main objectives are to explore if the application of Natural Language Processing ( NLP ) and machine learning can improve citizens’ experience of digital citizen participation platforms. Taking as a case study the “Decide Madrid” Consul platform, which enables citizens to post proposals for policies they would like to see adopted by the city council, we used NLP and machine learning to provide new ways to (a) suggest to citizens proposals they might wish to support; (b) group citizens by interests so that they can more easily interact with each other; (c) summarise comments posted in response to proposals; and (d) assist citizens in aggregating and developing proposals. Evaluation of the results confirms that NLP and machine learning have a role to play in addressing some of the barriers users of platforms such as Consul currently experience.
CCS concepts: • Human-centred computing→Collaborative and social computing • Computing methodologies→Artificial intelligence→Natural language processing
... Civic participation in policy rule-making and implementation offers many important benefits. For citizens, it serves as a crucial component of civic education and engagement and increases trust in governmental processes [4,60]. For policymakers, civic participation processes provide access to a broad range of experience-based knowledge at a low cost, enabling them to create better policy [4,6,9,65,85]. ...
Natural language processing (NLP) tools have the potential to boost civic participation and enhance democratic processes because they can significantly increase governments' capacity to gather and analyze citizen opinions. However, their adoption in government remains limited, and harnessing their benefits while preventing unintended consequences remains a challenge. While prior work has focused on improving NLP performance, this work examines how different internal government stakeholders influence NLP tools' thoughtful adoption. We interviewed seven politicians (politically appointed officials as heads of government institutions) and thirteen public servants (career government employees who design and administrate policy interventions), inquiring how they choose whether and how to use NLP tools to support civic participation processes. The interviews suggest that policymakers across both groups focused on their needs for career advancement and the need to showcase the legitimacy and fairness of their work when considering NLP tool adoption and use. Because these needs vary between politicians and public servants, their preferred NLP features and tool designs also differ. Interestingly, despite their differing needs and opinions, neither group clearly identifies who should advocate for NLP adoption to enhance civic participation or address the unintended consequences of a poorly considered adoption. This lack of clarity in responsibility might have caused the governments' low adoption of NLP tools. We discuss how these findings reveal new insights for future HCI research. They inform the design of NLP tools for increasing civic participation efficiency and capacity, the design of other tools and methods that ensure thoughtful adoption of AI tools in government, and the design of NLP tools for collaborative use among users with different incentives and needs.
... The numerous advantages of the digital space support the increasing trend. These include its ability to enable wider political involvement, the creation of supporter networks, and the mobilisation of individuals in online and in-person campaign activities (Koc-Michalska and Lilleker 2017). Through the effective use of social media, Ubah Bareng integrated offline and online campaigns and successfully held Desak Anies and Slepet Imin in 36 locations across Indonesia (Ubah Bareng 2024), with the Desak Anies event in Surabaya drawing an attendance of 20,000 people, surpassing the 13,500 online registrants ( CNN Indonesia 2024). ...
This study examines the Ubah Bareng volunteer movement, a youth-driven initiative
supporting Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (AMIN) in the 2024 Indonesia Presi-
dential Election. While research on volunteer movements in electoral campaigns often
focuses on their role as secondary forces under political party control, this study offers new ground by exploring Ubah Bareng’s position as a primary driver in AMIN’s natio-
nal campaign. By applying Pippa Norris’s Campaign Communication Strategy Theory,
this research investigates how Ubah Bareng collaborates with the official campaign
team (Timnas) and political parties to mobilize young voters effectively. A qualitative
methodology, including in-depth interviews and literature reviews, reveals that Ubah
Bareng’s involvement in the official campaign is closely linked to its relationship with
Anies Baswedan, Timnas, and political parties. Thus, Ubah Bareng is a platform that
integrates volunteers, political parties, and Timnas in designing campaign programs.
This relation allows Ubah Bareng to operate independently from the official campaign
structure while playing a pivotal role in developing and executing campaign strategies.
This study further identifies Ubah Bareng’s mixed use of pre-modern and post-modern
campaigns as its primary strategy. At the same time, its hub model represents a new
phenomenon that can prevent fragmentation within electoral volunteer movements.
Therefore, this study contributes to the broader understanding of volunteer move-
ments in Indonesian politics, offering insights into their evolving role as central actors
in electoral campaign strategy.
... Participation can also generate collective learning and increase the likelihood of delivering more legitimate and effective policies [18,9]. The latter improves democratic institutions over the long term by enhancing the process's inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability [17,19]. ...
For policymakers, making sense of stakeholder participatory data is a complex task. Natural Language Processing (NLP) can aid in processing this data, reducing policymakers’ cognitive overload and supporting multi-stakeholder engagement. However, implementing NLP can be challenging in settings with limited resources, knowledge, or infrastructure. This study analyzes the feasibility and limitations of
using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to examine data from Chile’s AI policy in which more than 1,700 people participated in a public deliberation process yielding data containing citizen reflections that varied in format, quality, depth, and length. We matched LDA topics from the public deliberation data to the objectives of Chile’s AI policy draft, written by five experts over 4-months. LDA effectively detected 87% of the topics in the draft, requiring the researchers only to manually inspect 26% of the participation data to deliver this result. We discuss the potential and limitations of using LDA in participatory processes and contribute by showing how it can aid in the strategic management of stakeholders in a real-world resource-constrained setting.
Full paper: https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3737/paper30.pdf
... Digital technologies, especially those that enable social interaction, can create new avenues for political engagement. Online interactions can influence voting behaviour, participation in political movements, and even the motivations behind different forms of participation in many ways (Koc-Michalska and Lilleker 2017;Theocharis et al. 2023). Take social media, for example; it has empowered citizens to launch and organise boycott campaigns against political figures or policies with unprecedented ease. ...
This chapter explores the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on digital democracy, focusing on four main areas: citizenship, participation, representation, and the public sphere. It traces the evolution from electronic to virtual and network democracy, underscoring how each stage has broadened democratic engagement through technology. Focusing on digital citizenship, the chapter examines how AI can improve online engagement while posing privacy risks and fostering identity stereotyping. Regarding political participation, it highlights AI's dual role in mobilising civic actions and spreading misinformation. Regarding representation, AI's involvement in electoral processes can enhance voter registration, e-voting, and the efficiency of result tabulation but raises concerns regarding privacy and public trust. Also, AI's predictive capabilities shift the dynamics of political competition, posing ethical questions about manipulation and the legitimacy of democracy. Finally, the chapter examines how integrating AI and digital technologies can facilitate democratic political advocacy and personalised communication. However, this also comes with higher risks of misinformation and targeted propaganda.
... Social participation in the context of digital engagement refers to the extent to which individuals partake in online activities that contribute to public discourse, policy-making, and community development [58,59]. This participatory culture is conducive to enhancing an individual's awareness of digital transformation, as it involves leveraging digital tools to affect social change and participate in civic activities [60]. ...
In an era marked by rapid digital transformation, understanding the factors that influence digital engagement is crucial for bridging the digital divide. This study aims to explore the impact of individual factors such as networking motive, social media use, content service usage, and economic activity on digital transformation awareness and satisfaction. Utilizing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze data from 7,000 respondents of the National Information Society Agency (NIA)'s 2022 Digital Divide Survey, this research provides empirical insights into the dynamics of digital engagement. The findings reveal that networking motive significantly predicts social media use, which in turn slightly enhances digital transformation awareness but not satisfaction. Conversely, economic activity positively influences both awareness and satisfaction with digital transformation, underscoring the tangible benefits of digital economic engagement. Life service utilization emerged as a crucial factor, significantly impacting both awareness and satisfaction. These results offer critical implications for policymakers, educators, and digital platform developers, suggesting the need for targeted strategies to enhance digital literacy, promote inclusive digital services, and foster economic opportunities in the digital domain.
... Digital technologies, especially those that enable social interaction, can create new avenues for political engagement. Online interactions can influence voting behaviour, participation in political movements, and even the motivations behind different forms of participation in many ways (Koc-Michalska and Lilleker 2017;Theocharis et al. 2023). Take social media, for example; it has empowered citizens to launch and organise boycott campaigns against political figures or policies with unprecedented ease. ...
This chapter explores the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on digital democracy, focusing on four main areas: citizenship, participation, representation, and the public sphere. It traces the evolution from electronic to virtual and network democracy, underscoring how each stage has broadened democratic engagement through technology. Focusing on digital citizenship, the chapter examines how AI can improve online engagement while posing privacy risks and fostering identity stereotyping. Regarding political participation, it highlights AI's dual role in mobilising civic actions and spreading misinformation. Regarding representation, AI's involvement in electoral processes can enhance voter registration, e-voting, and the efficiency of result tabulation but raises concerns regarding privacy and public trust. Also, AI's predictive capabilities shift the dynamics of political competition, posing ethical questions about manipulation and the legitimacy of democracy. Finally, the chapter examines how integrating AI and digital technologies can facilitate democratic political advocacy and personalised communication. However, this also comes with higher risks of misinformation and targeted propaganda.
... Furthermore, empirical studies have shown, the media has extensive influence on people's propensity to contribute in political discussions (Strömbäck, Falasca, & Kruikemeier, 2018). The contemporary landscape of political involvement necessitates the use of digital tools since it can no longer be confined only to traditional, labor-intensive offline activities (Lilleker & Koc-Michalska, 2017). The mechanisms via which political engagement occurs in online deliberative environments, in light of the rise and popularity in social media platforms (Friess & Eilders, 2015). ...
The field of visual communication suggests that the use of imaginative visuals like images, videos, and graphics might potentially influence the perceptions and attitudes of the general public including teenagers. These teenagers have access to social media platforms and spend most of their time watching short videos. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of political short videos on political information and participation of teenagers. A quantitative survey research methodology approach is used with a sample size of (N = 250) Teens. Major findings of the study proved that exposure to short videos in the form of TikTok Videos, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, and Instagram Reels is one of the major sources of information for teens and political information and political participation of teens. These teenagers are very aware of political data and information which helps them actively participate in political activities, and discussions. The government and educational institutions may develop a strategy to help teenagers better understand the political system, which will encourage the positive use of social media.
... In its early days, the main comparative studies were limited to analysing the digital transformation of party management, top-down internal communication and political campaigning ). Since then, the digitalisation of political campaigns has attracted most of the attention (Dommett et al., 2024;Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). Much of this literature has examined the relevance of new digital tools in the electoral process and the role of social media in mobilising the electorate (Kreiss, 2016;Owen, 2017). ...
... Online and offline political participation appear intrinsically linked (Koivula, Malinen, and Saarinen 2021;Theocharis et al. 2022). While online activism is often criticised for its superficiality compared to offline engagement, Koc-Michalska and Lilleker (2017) counter that given the right circumstances, it can be equally influential and even replace offline involvement. Intriguingly, intrinsic motivations are more likely to drive offline than online participation. ...
... In this special issue, we aim to unpack the multifaceted domain of "EU digital policies and politics" and the new challenges they pose to European regulators. To define EU digital policies and politics, we depart from a conventional approach that primarily examines the online behaviours of political actors (for example Koc-Michalska and Lilleker, 2017), embracing a perspective that analyses the dynamics between actors and policies regulating the digital realm. ...
... This social practice can be defined as "confirmation bias" in which individuals are attracted to spaces where their pre-existing political beliefs, knowledge, and decisions are reaffirmed rather than challenged, thereby diminishing any opportunities to be exposed to diverse perspectives (Dutton et al., 2017). As a result, users are often exposed to politics in the new information environment, but in most cases, this exposure may be limited to sources that align with their beliefs and ideologies (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). Kümpel (2020) highlights the ways in which individuals may also experience inequalities in their news exposure and engagement opportunities as a result of the manipulative technologies that are present within social media platforms. ...
We analyse the perceptions of secondary school students in Germany regarding “fake news” (FN). First, we describe students’ awareness of the nature, frequency, and thematic scope of FN. Then, we look at students’ willingness to learn about FN, the mechanisms underlying it, and how they envision the integration of FN in the curriculum. We claim that effective pedagogies to develop students’ critical awareness about this phenomenon should be grounded in their lived experiences, in what we will call a situated and responsive pedagogy. Two elements are central for this pedagogy: first, bringing together student and teacher communities at school, as teachers are recognised by students as their most competent partners; second, combining top-down and bottom-up curriculum design and school development to allow student participation. Situated and responsive pedagogy offers the possibility of combining students’ digital and school lives, potentially creating maximal affective engagement in teaching and learning situations.KeywordsMisinformationFake newsStudents’ perspectivesSituatedResponsive pedagogy
... To learn about the technological engagement of authoritarian domination, scholars often choose citizens or organizations as the unit of analysis to see how their activities are interrupted by tech-driven control practices (Han, 2018;Liu and Graham, 2021;Smeltzer, 2012). Although the impact of technology on civil society is an important topic in the study of tech-driven authoritarianism (Diamond, 2010;Farrell, 2012;Koc-Michalska and Lilleker, 2017;Schlaeger and Jiang, 2014), when data are produced from the side of civil society, scholars are answering questions about how civil society is impacted by digital technologies rather than questions about how the state is using technology to govern the people. What remains unclear is the motives of the concrete actors and the mechanisms underpinning the authoritarian regimes' use of the internet, big data, social media, AI, and other digital technologies. ...
With the tremendous advancements in Internet, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence , the power and potential of digital technologies has a special appeal to political rulers. How can qualitative researchers explore tech-driven authoritarianism when they have limited access to state institutions? This article addresses this question by arguing for a wider and more nuanced understanding of tech-driven authoritarianism as a state-market complex mediating the political application of digital technologies. Based on my own research on China's Internet surveillance, I find that the engagement of the private sector, especially technology companies, in authoritarian control creates new opportunities for qualitative researchers to study state power in non-state fields. By reflecting on my experience of field-site choice, gaining access, and informant recruitment, I discuss how thorough preparation in both theory and fieldwork approaches help qualitative investigators develop creative ways of collecting information on tech-driven authoritarianism.
... Thus, brands help the voters connect with the political brand at a functional and emotional level.The contribution of this work lies in its unique integration of the PMO framework with political brand affecting VO, advancing the understanding of voters' perception of political parties and campaign managers. The research provides valuable insight regarding the degree to which voter perception is affected by VE, political brands and political party's disposition towards prevailing 'EF'.Dermody et al. (2010) reveal that "young people are the most disengaged and often feel alienated with politics"; hence, our study tries to find a mechanism to address this through institutionalising VE across digital platforms, which can enhance political interest(Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017).Studies of political engagement do reveal holistic insight into young voters' while they consider engagement across multiple marketing campaigns and channels, offline and online. Social media has evolved as the most popular platform for engaging political discussions(Pich et al., 2018). ...
Political parties in order to design their competitive strategies are always keen to understand the factors that govern voter's perception. Voter's perception in this paper utilizes voter's acknowledgement of voter orientation (VO) of political parties. The purpose of this paper is to examine the constituent variables and their cumulative impact on voter's orientation and examine the linkage that exists between them. The authors have proposed four key constructs that demonstrates causality namely voter involvement (VI), voter subjective knowledge (VSK), political brand image (PBI) and environmental factor (EF). The study has used SEM method of model estimation. VI and VSK merged into a new construct labelled as voter engagement (VE). Engaged voter would impact PBI positively and political brand impacts VO. The relationship of VE and VO is mediated PBI, but the same kind of mediation is not witnessed in the case of EF. This research advances the understanding of composite variables of VO from the vantage of political market orientation. Political brand mediates the association between VE and voter perception.
... However, there are good reasons to examine multiple organizing contexts in the context of digital collective action efforts. Digital participation in collective action does not occur in a vacuum; rather, a wide variety of organizational and social contexts, from formal organizations to loose coalitions and individual networks, play a significant role in prompting participation and motivating individuals to join collective action efforts (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2016). It is no longer tenable to make sharp distinctions between online and offline forms of collective action (e.g., Brunsting & Postmes, 2002) nor rigidly bifurcate organizational and self-organizing actions. ...
The contemporary communication landscape enables individuals to connect and engage with collective action efforts in multifaceted and ambiguous ways. This complexity makes membership in collective action groups particularly intriguing and important because of its pivotal role as a mechanism that connects individual behavior to group, organizational, and societal dynamics. This study seeks to examine the spread of membership types in the digital environment and explores how different kinds of prompts for collective action are associated with particular types of membership groups. Through a survey of participants on a popular global digital platform for collective decision-making, we found evidence of a broad range of membership types in the digital space, associated with particular prompts calling for action. The results suggest that there is a strong relationship between membership type and participatory styles of individuals. Implications of the results are discussed.
... While these public participation workshops were highly attended, ongoing opportunities to continue to participate are limited, and in some cases non-existent, following code adoption within each context. While there are increasing levels of new technologies including social media, which offer additional forums, research has shown that these are limited in terms of audience participation, endorsements indicated by "liking", or by presenting an opportunity to dissent as activists (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). ...
Inequality can be reduced through greater political participation, and reduced inequality often results in increased economic growth (Solt, 2008). This research begins with the examination of the City of Miami, Florida and the City of Denver, Colorado as case studies as part of a Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Design to consider how inclusion, economic growth, and inequality are affected by these processes. The aim is to consider the quality of participatory methods and analyses while exploring the need for ongoing participation. Externalities such as changing property values are considered as a factor in evaluating inequality to more holistically analyze processes and outcomes. The research objectives include measuring and analyzing how a multi-faceted research design with the use of visual communication within public planning processes can further economic growth, while advancing inclusion and levels of collaboration within local government public planning participation processes in the United States. To maximize the impact of this study and to uncover reflexive benefits, the need for further research of local contexts internationally has been uncovered. This will serve as a test in achieving maximum, true diversity and the highest and best returns in terms of economic growth through the reduction of inequality. As such, this study acknowledges the need to continue to replicate this research domestically and internationally for comparative purposes to ensure the opportunity for maximum collaboration and the most thorough investigation and findings into the achievement of economic growth through the reduction of inequality.
... With the advent of social media, such premises have expanded in complex ways (Jost et al., 2018). Democratized access to websites like Facebook and Twitter allows the public to express personal opinions, amass social influence, and possibly spur real-world action at an unprecedented scale (Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2017). ...
This article analyzes collective emotions toward political change in a populist democracy. Taking the federalization of the Philippines led by President Rodrigo Duterte as an exemplar case, we extend prevailing scholarship which focuses on populist leaders' electoral discourse by examining the affective landscape of the populist public in a postelectoral context. Utilizing a sequential mixed‐methods design, we algorithmically classify the stance and sentiment valence of 18,535 Facebook comments about federalism, then we reflexively identify collective emotions based on major discursive storylines across each stance‐sentiment intersection. Our integrated analysis reveals collective feelings of (1) hope and euphoria and (2) vindictive contempt among supporters of Duterte's federalism, while detractors of the campaign express (3) derisive amusement and (4) fear and skepticism. Two of these public emotions may be idiosyncratic to Global South populisms: public fear and president‐invested salvific hope. We discuss the implications of our findings along themes of emotional polarization in a populist democracy, linking political affect with democratic participation through social media.
... Also, although SNSs have been praised for facilitating social movements, as evidenced by the socalled Facebook Revolution or Twitter Revolution, specifically how or whether the emergence of SNSs has expanded the web-based Internet's impacts on protest mobilization has yet to be fully examined. Koc-Michalska and Lilleker (2017) argued for the need for future research on "how and under what conditions citizens are politically activated through their use of social media" (p. 4). ...
Background:
With the rapid expansion of the energy drink market, concerns associated with its adverse effects have been raised. This research examines how goal framing moderated by temporal framing affects attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control related to energy drink consumption.
Methods:
A 2 (goal framing: gain vs. loss) × 2 (temporal framing: present-oriented vs. future-oriented) randomised experiment was employed. The sample consisted of 195 college students who consume energy drinks.
Results:
Results showed that a future-oriented message was more effective than a present-oriented one when used in gain framing in increasing perceived behavioral control, as predicted. A future-oriented message was also more effective in increasing perceived negative subjective norms, but only when used in loss framing; this was the opposite of the predicted result.
Conclusions:
The findings extend previous research on goal framing by (1) identifying an important moderator-temporal framing-in processing health promotion messages about energy drink consumption and (2) examining such moderated effects on different psychological factors. The findings of this study are expected to inform the development of more effective message strategies in health domains.
There is a growing body of literature on the use and selection of social media platforms for political activism. However, less attention has been given to identifying citizens who are politically disconnected—those registered on social media platforms but not engaging in political activities. Additionally, whether patterns of non-use of social media for politics vary across different platforms remains understudied. Based on an online survey of 1,978 respondents conducted after the 2022 French presidential election campaign, this article aims to address these questions by examining the patterns and factors contributing to political disconnection from social media, particularly across six platforms: Facebook, private social networks, Instagram, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok. Our findings indicate that three main factors explain political disconnection: digital skills, interest in politics (except for platforms less frequently used for politics), and social media efficacy. These results provide significant and original contributions to the broader debate on how and why individuals disconnect socially and technologically on social media platforms. While many studies focus on the variables that account for political participation in the age of social media, ours examines the conditions that explain non-use in the context of political disconnection. We also contribute to the existing literature by analysing the phenomenon of non-use holistically, addressing platform type, demographics, digital literacy, and political traits (e.g., interest and competence).
Several governments are leveraging social media for political communication. While the phenomenon of gate-keeping in filtering information through social media has received attention from scholars, the role of diverse meso-entities (comprising pressure groups, experts, and professionals) in influencing digital political communication remains under-studied. We explore the trend in communicating a specific program for electoral gains and identify different types of entities that reshape and disseminate political communication on Twitter, with an illustration of the launch of the public health insurance program in India. We find the significant presence of meso-level entities that played an instrumental role in influencing political communication from macro to microlevel entities through the digital platform. We extend the Jungherr, Schoen, and Jürgens (2016) framework of macro to micro-level political communication in social media by recommending a few propositions to be tested in future studies. Further, this study also contributes to information diffusion theory by explicating the role of various information intermediaries in influencing information flow from macro to micro users on social media platforms.
The contributions of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and social media to the climate crisis are often underestimated. To date, much of the focus has been on direct emissions associated with the life cycle of tech products. In this forum article, we argue that this narrow focus misses the adverse and indirect impacts of generative AI and social media on the climate. We outline some of the indirect ways in which generative AI and social media undermine the optimism, focus, creativity, and veracity required to address the climate crisis. Our aim is twofold. First, we seek to balance the tide of optimism about the role of digitalization in addressing the climate crisis by offering a skeptic’s perspective. Second, we outline a new research agenda that moves beyond counting directly attributable carbon emissions and proposes a more comprehensive accounting of the indirect ways in which social media and generative AI adversely impact the sociopolitical conditions required to address the climate crisis.
This paper examines digital discourses of and on the Palestinian movement, Hamas on Twitter. The data corpus contains tweets and retweets by Shehab News Agency (Hamas’s online news agency), and all tweets associated with the hashtag #hamas and produced by any user on the twitter. The data resources were extracted in January 2022 by utilizing NVivo NCapture. The paper uses Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996 & 2006) social semiotic approach and critical discourse tools to examine online, textual, and visual features of tweets. The findings show that the word occupation ‘الاحتلال’ is the most frequent word in the tweets of Shehab News Agency, and it is associated with hashtags such as Hamas, Jerusalem, among other words and hashtags. The result of word cloud shows that the hashtag #Hamas is associated with frequent words and hashtags, e.g., #gaza, #palestine, #israel, #terrorism, #terror, #hamasterrorists, ##thegazayoudontsee, #theykidnappedgaza. This discursive strategy leaves a negative representation of Hamas and legitimizes any actions conducted by Israel or any other actors against Hamas. The analysis shows that Hamas’s discourses focus on resistance of the Israeli occupation. In addition, the analysis suggests that tweets associated with the hashtag #Hamas seem to link Hamas with terrorism. In conclusion, as expected in party-loyal media, the digital discourse on twitter on and of Hamas is understood as a struggle between Hamas and Israel rather than a war against Palestinians who pay high prices. This is because Twitter blocks Hamas’s accounts and mostly removes Palestinian content that criticizes Israel
تبحث هذه الورقة في خطابات حركة حماس الفلسطينية والخطابات عنها على منصة تويتر. تحتوي مجموعة البيانات على تغريدات وتغريدات أعادت مشاركتها وكالة شهاب الاخبارية (وكالة حماس للأخبار على الانترنت)، وجميع التغريدات المرتبطة بالوسم #Hamas أو التي غرد بها أي مستخدم على منصة تويتر. تم استخراج البيانات في يناير 2022 عن طريق استخدام NVIVO NCAPTURE. تستخدم الورقة منهج Kress and Van Leeuwen (١٩٩٦ و٢٠٠٦) السيميائي الاجتماعي وكذلك أدوات الخطاب الناقد لفحص الميزات النصيّة والبصريّة للتغريدات. تشير النتائج إلى أن كلمة "الاحتلال" هي الكلمة الأكثر شيوعًا في تغريدات وكالة شهاب، وترتبط بالوسوم مثل حماس، القدس، من بين كلمات ووسوم أخرى. تُظهر نتيجة سحاب الكلمات أن الوسم #Hamas مرتبط بالكلمات المتكررة، والوسوم مثل #gaza, #palestine, #israel, #terrorism, #terror, #hamasterrorists, ##thegazayoudontsee, #theykidnappedgaza . تترك هذه الاستراتيجية الخطابية تمثيلًا سلبيًا لحماس وتضفي الشرعية على أي إجراءات تمارسها إسرائيل أو أي جهات أخرى ضد حماس. يوضح التحليل أن خطابات حماس تركز على مقاومة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي. أيضًا، يجد التحليل أن حماس مرتبطة بالإرهاب كما هو موضح في تغريدات مرتبطة بالوسم #Hamas. في الختام، كما هو متوقع في وسائل الإعلام الموالية للأحزاب، فإن الخطاب الرقمي على منصة تويتر لحماس وعنها يُفهم على أنه صراع بين حماس وإسرائيل بدلاً من أنها حرب ضد الفلسطينيين الذين يدفعون أثمانا عالية. وذلك لأن تويتر يغلق حسابات حماس، ويزيل بشكل كبير المحتوى الفلسطيني الذي ينتقد إسرائيل
Dijital siyaset, siyasetçiler için fırsatları ve riskleri birlikte içermekte ve “yeni bir siyaset” anlayışına gönderme yapmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye'deki anaakım siyasetin iki temel aktörü olan iktidar (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) ve ana muhalefet (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) partisinin dijital teknolojinin sunduğu olanakların daha demokratik bir toplum yaratılması için kullanılmasına dayanan bu “yeni siyaset” anlayışına yönelik eğilimlerini anlamak amacıyla, özellikle COVID-19 pandemisinin ilk bir yılını kapsayan Mart 2020-Nisan 2021 tarihleri arasındaki Twitter’daki etkileşim örüntüleri ve söylemlerinin merkezindeki temalar analiz edilmiştir. Dijital teknolojinin tabandan yükselen bir demokrasinin gelişmesine ne tür katkılar sağladığını tartışan bu çalışma, dijital siyasal iletişim biçimlerinin geleneksel siyasal iletişim biçimlerinden çok farklı olmadığı, diyaloğa kapalı ve tek yönlü olarak işlediği ve egemen siyaset yapma biçimlerinin eleştirel kamusal tartışmalara alan açmadığı sonucuna ulaşmıştır. Liberal demokratik bir siyasal sistemi tanımlayan ve bu sistemden doğan konuları ve sorunları kapsayan anahtar sözcükler üzerinden yapılan taramada, her iki siyasal partinin de toplumsal kriz, siyaset ve ekonomi temelli sorunları söylemlerinden dışladığı görülmüştür.
In response to new pedagogical challenges brought forth by the post-truth era, this chapter contextualizes what we call the new information environment with attention to various elements that compose this environment, including information abundance, misinformation, disinformation, and the impacts of manipulative hidden technologies that shape individuals’ attitudes and behaviours. Drawing upon Dewey and Mouffe, this chapter discusses the conflictual nature of democratic engagement, and examines existing threats to democracy that the new information environment poses. We identify the implications of young people's access to seemingly limitless information as citizens in a democratic society, and illuminate the role of education in responding to these challenges. In our final section, we intersect empirical findings from our case study of high school students and teachers with contemporary literature to highlight the material impacts of mis- and disinformation. We conclude with a call for pedagogical action.
This study examined adults’ motivation, mobilization through social media, and intention of engagement (online and offline) in anti-Asian violence activism in the United States. Using self-determination theory, two studies were conducted to test the model and the moderation effect of political ideology and interest on engagement. Study 1 (N = 250) found that regardless of political ideology, the motivation of non-Asian ethnic groups predicted mobilization and online/offline engagement in anti-Asian violence activism. Study 2 (N = 297) found the same result that the motivation-mobilization-engagement model was significant without the influence of political interest. The results imply that anti-Asian violence appears to be a bipartisan issue for the public’s motivation, mobilization, and engagement. The results present that anti-Asian violence is not only Asians’ issue but also everyone’s concern. A more open and affirmative approach to the prevention of anti-Asian violence for the public is suggested.
La manière dont les technologies numériques façonnent l’organisation des partis reste une zone grise pour la recherche. Cet article développe un cadre commun pour cartographier la digitalisation partisane à travers différents aspects. L'objectif est de mesurer les variations dans les modèles de numérisation des partis européens, en particulier concernant leurs élections internes. Nos premiers résultats montrent que la sélection des dirigeants et des candidats est relativement digitalisée. En revanche, l’utilisation du vote en ligne pour sélectionner les organes internes est plus rare. Cette recherche permet de mieux comprendre les transformations récentes des partis et d’évaluer plus précisément l’influence des technologies numériques sur le lien démocratique.
The use of mobile instant messaging services is increasing among citizens. Applications like WhatsApp, with more than 2 billion users around the world, have changed the way we communicate. The objective of this research is to know how citizens make use of the WhatsApp service launched by the town hall of their municipality of residence. To do so, an online survey was carried out on 1202 citizens residing in Spain. The sample has been stratified considering the size of the municipality of residence of the respondents. The results show that the City Council’s WhatsApp service has greater penetration in smaller municipalities (up to 10,000 inhabitants). Therefore, these citizens would show more serious concern for local politics than the rest. Regarding its use, it stands out how residents in small municipalities use it more for informational purposes, while residents in medium municipalities (from 10,001 to 100,000 inhabitants) and large municipalities (more than 100,001 inhabitants) participate more and use it more frequently to register for the services offered by the City Council, as well as to raise doubts about the management run by the municipal corporation.
Las imágenes, la personalización y la polarización son rasgos nucleares de la ciberdemocracia. Teniendo en cuenta dicho contexto, el presente artículo analiza la comunicación visual de los candidatos estadounidenses Joe Biden y Donald Trump en la campaña presidencial de 2020. A través de un análisis cuantitativo y comparado de sus cuentas de Instagram, se alcanzaron las siguientes conclusiones: los atributos individuales del líder son más gravitantes que las propiedades de su fuerza política, la categoría política/profesional es la que prevalece en la mayoría de las publicaciones, la producción de piezas negativas y el recurso de yuxtaposición son preponderantes en ambos aspirantes y, por último, es relevante la producción de fotos y vídeos donde la figura política representa la totalidad del mensaje.
Scholars of critical algorithmic studies, including those from geography, anthropology, science talent search, and communication studies, have begun to consider how algorithmic devices and platforms facilitate democratic practices. In this article, I draw on a comparative ethnography of two alternative open-source algorithmic platforms – Decide Madrid and vTaiwan – to consider how they are dynamically constituted by differing algorithmic–human relationships. I compare how different algorithmic–human relationships empower citizens to influence political decision-making through proposing, commenting, and voting on the urban issues that should receive political resources in Taipei and Madrid. I argue that algorithmic empowerment is an emerging process in which algorithmic–human relationships orient away from limitations and towards conditions of plurality, actionality, and power decentralisation. This argument frames algorithmic empowerment as bringing about empowering conditions that allow (underrepresented) individuals to shape policy-making and consider plural perspectives for political change and action, not as an outcome-driven, binary assessment (i.e. yes/no). This article contributes a novel, situated, and comparative conceptualisation of algorithmic empowerment that moves beyond technological determinism and universalism.
Проаналізовано, що процес цифровізаціі має об’єктивний характер, залежить від глобалізаційних процесів. Однак цьому процесу, як і політичним, так і ринковим відносинам загалом, властиві певні особливості, вади і провали ринку, що потребують державного регулювання та втручання. В більшості країн сучасного світу одним з пріоритетних стратегічних завдань та загальнонаціональних пріоритетів розглядається впровадження інформаційно- комунікаційних технологій (ІКТ) та розвиток елементів цифрового суспільства. Цифрові технології, а також пов’язана з ними громадська та людська діяльність утворюють цифрову сферу сучасного соціуму, яка в нинішніх умовах визначає економічний та інноваційний потенціал держави, рівень освіти та людського розвитку, обумовлює соціальний прогрес, ефективність державного управління та здійснення демократичних процедур.
Розвиток принципів цифрового суспільства стимулює вдосконалення способів і методів взаємодії в рамках соціально-економічних відносин. Застосування інформаційних технологій дозволяє розширювати комунікаційні процеси, змінює склад і статус їх учасників, принципи просторової взаємодії шляхом мережевого спілкування, підвищує децентралізацію прийняття управлінських рішень в державному і приватному секторі.
На основі аналізу сучасних теоретичних моделей можливо окреслити модель цифрової політики. Елементами моделі є цифрове поле, що впливає на використання певних способів взаємодії цифрових політичних суб’єктів із цифровою інфраструктурою; цифрова інфраструктура – низка технологій/інструментів для інтеграції мереж; мережі користувачів – спільноти громадян, що опановують та застосовують цифрові технології/інструменти для досягнення спільних цілей, самоврядування; цифрові політичні суб’єкти, що інтегрують ці мережі для здійснення політики
Отже, в світі склалася нова реальність, яка спонукає уряди всіх країн до проведення політики системної цифрової економіки за допомогою цифрової трансформації шляхом вдосконалення відповідних галузей національного законодавства, розробки та реалізації масштабних державних стратегій, проектів та програм, зокрема – повне переведення сфери публічного управління на цифрові технології.
Здійснено комплексне дослідження цифрової політики як нового феномена політичного процесу в сучасному світі, що виникає під впливом глобальної цифровізації. Виявлено, що цифровізація політики є валентним, нестійким, незавершеним процесом, що можна пояснити самою природою глобальної цифровізації, що постійно самовдосконалюється та самооновлюється. Це позначається і на принципах формування цифрових політичних суб’єктів, які постійно удосконалюють свій інструментарій через утворення усе більш масштабних спільнот. Тож баланс сил у цифровому світі залежить від миттєвої інтеграції цих спільнот тими або іншими цифровими політичними суб’єктами.
Цифровізацію державної політики описано як постійну модифікацію цифрової інфраструктури політичного процесу. Встановлено категорії для вивчення цифровізації політики з метою виявлення її впливу на дискурс сучасності: «цифрова політика», «цифрові політичні суб’єкти». Визначені фактори, що впливають на процес цифровізаціі державної політики в зарубіжних країнах. Запропоновано модель цифрової політики, яка дозволяє визначити зміст та принципи трансформації політики держави у цифровому середовищі, зокрема: 1) процедуру утворення нового типу політичного актора – цифрового політичного суб’єкта; 2) створення умов для утворення мереж різних типів для здійснення політики у межах цифрових політичних практик, 3) методи використання цифрової інфраструктури для здійснення політики, 4) принципи продукування нового типу політичного контенту, що змінює структуру та формати політичних текстів.
Political campaigning in Assam and the Northeast region is distinctive in India’s hybrid media system. This study discusses parties and political campaigning in Assam’s hybrid media environment in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Legislative Assembly elections. The history of the state, party system development, and the media landscape precedes a discussion of the 2019 campaign drawing on interviews with party strategiests and television journalists. Although Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were on the rise as important campaign tools in Assam and the Northeast region in 2019, traditional political advertising (posters, pamphlets), coverage of political issues in traditional media (print and television news), as well as face-to-face communication (public meetings, door-to-door canvassing and rallies) remained the most important sources of political communication between voters and parties due to substantially lower teledensity than the national average. We explore how political parties used a mix of ‘advanced’ and ‘traditional’ campaigning tools to mobilize voters to support party agendas during the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the 2021 Legislative Assembly election campaign.
The digitalisation of political communication has played a crucial role in campaigns on both national and regional levels. For many political candidates in Poland, Facebook has become the primary tool for building a successful campaign. However, campaigns for elections to regional government bodies are often associated with traditional offline media, outdoor advertising and ubiquitous leaflets. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our knowledge of electoral communications in Poland from the regional perspective. Data gathered during the 2018 online campaign for the Lower Silesian Regional Assembly examined through a semiautomated content analysis uncovered the dynamics of the professionalisation of Polish political communication and identified predictors of Facebook adoption for electoral purposes among regional candidates. Furthermore, focusing solely on Facebook data, research revealed a tendency toward the normalisation of social media campaigning and a propensity for using mobilisation communication strategies. Taken together, this paper provides new insights into the study of political campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe on social media from the perspective of political actor.
A noteworthy limitation among existing studies on the use of online technologies by political parties is the focus on elections. This study extends the frontiers by examining the extent to which Nigeria's political parties use their websites, as well as Facebook and Twitter platforms to communicate and mobilise citizens during and beyond elections. Using web assessment survey, data collected from the online platforms of registered political parties in February 2015 and February 2017 were analysed—to see trends in online activities during (2015 elections) and outside of elections (2017). The study reveals that the parties are caught in the web of the contradictory possibilities of digital engagement. On the one hand, is an online quiescence in the period between elections, which is premised on poor party institutionalisation. On the other hand, the parties are largely unable to reverse elements of institutionalisation challenges by leveraging digital tools to develop roots in the society and boost their public image. This quandary helps to demonstrate where the Nigerian party system fits in the equalisation versus normalisation debate on the utility of digital tools.
This chapter outlines the main dimensions of analysis for assessing how mainstream and new parties are building their digital platforms and transitioning from traditional (offline) organisations into the digital world. So far, most of the academic attention has been focused on the impact of the use of digital technologies on party competition and campaigning, while the intra-organisational dimensions have been significantly under-researched. However, several parties in Europe and around the world, both traditional and digital native, have increasingly used digital technologies such as online platforms for internal decision-making, funding, communication and membership mobilisation. We provide here an innovative analytical framework for empirical exploration of the democratic consequences and technical challenges raised by the digitalization of party organisations from a comparative perspective.
Over the past decades, digital technologies have developed into tools of political deliberation and decision-making by the state and parties alike (Chadwick, 2007, 2012; Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2016). However, while some states developed strict rules on how to regulate and govern the use of internet devices in electoral affairs, online voting or referendums, it is not clear to what extent such regulations also exist to govern online decisions within political parties. In order to address these questions, the chapter bridges previous literature on digital politics, state electoral regulation and party organisations. The chapter explores how e-decision-making (mainly i-voting) is regulated in a sample of digitalized parties in two European countries (Italy and Spain) and to what extent these respect democratic norms and incorporate technical aspects. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how national-level regulations can be transferred into the intra-party context and what lessons can be learned from the discussed case studies to facilitate successful introduction of e-decision-making.
The establishment and constant development of social media technologies over the last two decades have left media scholars with a burning desire to understand their contribution to the formation of public opinion and its political consequences. At this very moment it is undeniable that public opinion fuelled by social media is a force to be reckoned with. At the same time, the complex information flows and communication practices on social media make it difficult to predict how public opinion will form. Research into how information and opinions are shared has created concerns that some parts of the public are becoming increasingly politically homogenous and polarized due to social media.
This thesis project suggests a new framework to evaluate the function of public opinion, specifically in relation to the opportunities offered by social media. The framework is inclusive and conflates concepts that are usually considered separate within the field of media studies e.g. opinion polling and deliberation. It is a descriptive framework that highlights advantages and weaknesses for certain instances of public opinion. The framework is used to inform the development of computational methods that can be used to gauge public opinion with respect to political homophily and polarization. These methods rely on automatically calculating the cross-cutting agreement, i.e. how much agreement there is between people with opposing political affiliations, as they interact in public social media discussions. They are developed as universal methods to enable public opinion to be measured based on how politically homogenous the users who react to and share a piece of information are and how well political oppositions in the comment threads are able to reach agreement, in combination with topics and sentiments. The methods are tested on a large cross-section of public Danish Facebook pages related to everything from local fitness clubs to government pages and news media organization.
Results show that high levels of political homophily and disagreement that are likely to cause polarization are highly dependent on context. Overall polarization does not appear to be increasing over a period of five years, except if moderated by certain other factors of which discussion topics related to refugees and immigration is one of the strongest. The results are furthermore an indicator that the methods developed can be used to effectively evaluate public opinion with respect to homophily and polarization. Since the methods are computational, the process is easily automated and can be used to create
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tools that can deliver increased transparency in public opinion formation as it unfolds on social media platforms.
У роботі доводиться, що трактування цифрової політики тільки як такої, що використовує цифрові технології, є неповним і на цьому етапі цифровізації не дає змоги типологізувати держави з різними системами ухвалення рішень. На основі аналізу останніх досліджень виокремлюються складники цифровізації, що надалі дадуть змогу укласти таку типологію. Цими складниками є наявність дієвого цифрового форуму, що є основою цифрової демократії, активних горизонтальних шляхів для політичної взаємодії, можливості для політичних акторів здобувати цифровий капітал внаслідок інтенсивної взаємодії в межах цифрового форуму. Важливою є і наявність цифрових активістів, включення яких до цифрового форуму має відбуватися за допомогою цифрового ресурсу політичних еліт або ж інших політичних акторів. Знайдено низку перепон для функціонування цифрового форуму, внаслідок яких утворюється цифровий розрив і здобуття цифрового капіталу стає проблематичним.На основі виокремлених складників цифровізації політики створено ідеальну модель цифрового поля політики, в межах якої розроблено взаємозв’язки між складниками. Зокрема, визначено, що для ідеальної моделі важливою є циклічна структура цифрових можливостей, в якій ключовою ланкою є спроможність політичних акторів досягати успіху внаслідок використання цифрових технологій, що своєю чергою призводить до постійної модернізації наявного цифрового інструментарію, який використовується в політичній боротьбі. Використання цієї структури залежить від цифрового поля політики конкретної держави, і, якщо поле передбачає саме циклічний її формат, це зумовлює існування активного цифрового форуму, в якому експлікована низка політичних акторів, що, взаємодіючи один з одним, накопичують цифровий капітал.Зіставляючи цифрове поле конкретної держави з ідеальною моделлю, можна визначити його особливості, а отже, виокремлювати ті держави, які використовують цифрові технології не для демократизації, сприяння відкритості, залучення громадян до процесів ухвалення рішень, а для посилення репресій, маніпулювання громадською думкою, імітування політичних процесів.
This chapter uses a case study on the most popular Chinese community question-answering site—Zhihu to reveal the divided opinions on gender relationships shared by Chinese Internet users. In doing so, this chapter explores how female and male Chinese Internet users respectively engage in gender-issue debates on Zhihu that have prompted the recently intensifying public attention to gender inequality in Chinese society. In particular, the analysis highlights male Chinese Internet users’ appropriation of nationalist rhetoric in debates. This phenomenon points towards the compatibility between nationalism and patriarchy. In this way, the chapter provides a better understanding of how anti-feminism campaigns and misogynist voices converge with nationalist sentiments in Chinese digital cultures.
Talking about politics without considering its communicative dimension is no longer possible. The development of the mass media has had such a decisive impact on the dynamics of the political process that there is a mediatisation of public action. Within this framework, we find the space of political communication that takes place in the symbolic and asymmetric exchange between media, political actors and citizens. The political system and the media industry are now linked by a relationship of interdependence: on the one hand, politicians are always looking for visibility in a public space transformed into a mediatised political arena; on the other hand, the media need politics as a source of information and a place of decision-making even with respect to the economic and institutional conditions in which media professions can be performed. The effects of the centrality of the media on politics are expressed above all in its personalisation and spectacularisation, while citizens, who seem destined to play the passive role of mere spectators, maintain a fundamental power because, in democracy, they represent a source of consensus for politics and profit for the media. Through the means of communication, there are not only effects on politics, but also on the cognitive system and on the behaviour of individuals. The mass media condition the dynamics of political socialisation and set the conditions of political propaganda, influencing electoral guidelines. They can narcotise or stimulate participation and represent, in any case, the main place where public opinion is formed. This chapter will end with a specific section on the central role played by new (digital and social) media in the construction of political mobilisation and participation.
Political participation has seen substantial changes in terms of both its structure and its scope. One of the most prominent venues of citizen engagement today is participation that relies on online means. Several approaches to online participation have attempted to understand its nature as a continuation of offline acts into the online realm, or as an independent form. In this article, we determine the place of online participation in the repertoire of political participation with greater precision. We ask whether, in particular, digitally networked participation (DNP) is an expansion of lifestyle politics, or whether there are empirical grounds to classify it as a new, independent mode of participation. We study a large variety of participatory activities using data from an online survey conducted among 2,114 politically active individuals in Belgium in 2017. We use an innovative measurement approach that combines closed-with open-ended questions, which allows us to explore new forms of participation that have previously not been considered or measured. Our results show that DNP is a core part of today's activists' repertoire and a distinct mode of political participation that is clearly attractive to younger, critical citizens.
This study is a systematic literature review of research on social media and political communication from political parties or politicians in parliament. The literature review is narrowed down further to focus on European studies. The review sorts studies into three thematic categories: political sender, citizen engagement and public actors. The study finds that papers are mostly pessimistic about the democratic influence of social media. This might be because studies have been looking for a social media revolution rather than slow evolution over time. The paper goes on to divide studies according to digital methods using digital trace data or traditional methods or a combination of both. The literature review presents the advantages of each approach and further highlights the potential of mixed and multiple methods. Finally, the literature review highlights recent issues with collecting data through platform API and argues that the field should be careful about relying too heavily on this collection approach in the future as social media platforms are starting to restrict access to digital trace data.
In spite of the extensive media coverage of election technologies, the market and its players remain largely unknown. Who are they? What do they do? What are their strategies? This chapter leverages new empirical data to answer these questions, drawing in particular from a series of interviews with providers of political technology in France. We show that the sector is heterogeneous and that its boundaries are fluid, including actors who provide wildly different services and initially embraced different economic and technological strategies. We also show that the nature of the services provided as well as the partisan dimension of each company depends on its target customers. However, due to economic constraints, the sector is undergoing a radical restructuring. The laborious implementation of "elections 2.0" in France is continuing with an increasing professionalization of its players, leading the sector to become more homogeneous and internationalized.
The implementation of “elections 2.0”
A study of the French political technology market and its players
spite of the extensive media coverage of election technologies, the market and its players remain largely unknown. Who are they? What do they do? What are their strategies?
This article leverages new empirical data to answer these questions, drawing in particular from a series of interviews with providers of political technology in France (LMP, NationBuilder, etc.). Going against established knowledge, we show that the sector is heterogeneous and that its boundaries are fluid, including actors that provide wildly different services and initially embraced different economic and technological strategies. We also show that the nature of the services provided as well as the partisan dimension of each company depends on its target customers. However, due to economic constraints, the sector is in undergoing a radical restructuring. The laborious implementation of “elections 2.0” in France is continuing with an increasing professionalization of its players, leading the sector to become more homogeneous and internationalized.
Bu çalışmada kitle iletişim sürecine ilişkin birkaç tanım ve kavram üzerinden hareket edilerek yeni medya konusunda yapılan tartışmalara yer verilmiştir. Yeni medyanın kullanım şekilleri, toplumu nasıl dönüştürdüğü anaakım medyanın yerine geçip geçemeyeceği konusundaki argümanlar incelenmiştir. Yeni medyanın özellikle sosyal medya kısmında yoğunlaşılmış ve o kesitte gelişen süreçlere değinilmiştir. Son 50 yılda iletişim araçlarının zamanla nasıl değişime uğradığına ilişkin bilgilerin yanı sıra yeni medyanın bireylere ve kişisel iletişime sağladığı fırsatlar ve olanaklar üzerinde durulmuştur. Aynı zamanda bu çalışmada kitle iletişiminin merkezi bir medya odağından-araç-değil, kitlelerden kitlelere doğru çok boyutlu ve özerk yapısal niteliklere kavuştuğu, mesajda tek yönlü ve doğrusal-lineer-yapının çözülmesinin hızlandığı, öziletişimin ve ağ toplumunun zirve yaptığı iletişim/etkileşim çağına dikkat çekilmiştir. Çalışmada değinilen kuramsal yaklaşımların özellikle mesaj merkezli odaklanması öngörülerek, iletişimin biricik amacı olan etkileşim konusu irdelenmiştir. Mesajın her yönden her yöne gönderilmesi halinin ve belirli bir merkezinin bulunmaması bireyin belirleyici üretici ve tüketici olarak konumlandığı enformasyon ve iletişim çağının özelliklerinin altı çizilerek tartışmalara ışık tutulmuştur.
In pursuit of a healthier and participatory democracy, scholars have long established the positive effects of social capital, values derived from resources embedded in social ties with others which characterize the structure of opportunity and action in communities. Today, social media afford members of digital communities the ability to relate in new ways. In these contexts, the question that arises is whether new forms of social capital associated with the use of social media are a mere extension of traditional social capital or if they are in fact a different construct with a unique and distinct palette of attributes and effects. This study introduces social media social capital as a new conceptual and empirical construct to complement face-to-face social capital. Based on a two-wave panel data set collected in the United States, this study tests whether social capital in social media and offline settings are indeed two distinct empirical constructs. Then, the article examines how these two modes of social capital may relate to different types of citizenship online and offline. Results show that social media social capital is empirically distinct from face-to-face social capital. In addition, the two constructs exhibit different patterns of effects over online and offline political participatory behaviors. Results are discussed in light of theoretical developments in the area of social capital and pro-democratic political engagement.
This study examines the phenomenon of politically motivated selective avoidance on Facebook in the context of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement protests in 2014. We conceptualize selective avoidance as individual choices that users make to shield themselves from undesirable dissonant views by removing unwanted information and breaking social ties that transmit such information. Given the political turmoil and high level of polarization during the protests, we argue that selective avoidance was related to the socio-psychological factor of perceived out-group threat. We present an analysis of a survey of 769 students from Hong Kong conducted at the height of the street protests. We find that 15.6% of the respondents removed content and/or unfriended a Facebook friend during the protests. The use of Facebook for protest-related information and expression was associated with higher likelihood of selective avoidance, which in turn predicted actual participation in the street protests. The level of perceived out-group threat strengthened the positive relationship between Facebook use and selective avoidance. We thus argue that group conflict in a time of political turmoil may catalyze selective avoidance, transforming a heterogeneous socio-informational environment into a more insulated gated community. Such acts may promote protest participation but also lead to a more fragmented and polarized citizenry.
The Logic of Connective Action explains the rise of a personalized digitally networked politics in which diverse individuals address the common problems of our times such as economic fairness and climate change. Rich case studies from the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany illustrate a theoretical framework for understanding how large-scale connective action is coordinated using inclusive discourses such as “We Are the 99%” that travel easily through social media. in many of these mobilizations, communication operates as an organizational process that may replace or supplement familiar forms of collective action based on organizational resource mobilization, leadership, and collective action framing. in some cases, connective action emerges from crowds that shun leaders, as when Occupy protesters created media networks to channel resources and create loose ties among dispersed physical groups. in other cases, conventional political organizations deploy personalized communication logics to enable large-scale engagement with a variety of political causes. The Logic of Connective Action shows how power is organized in communication-based networks, and what political outcomes may result.
This essay provides a descriptive interpretation of the role of digital media in the campaigns of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 with a focus on two themes: personalized political communication and the commodification of digital media as tools. The essay covers campaign finance strategy, voter mobilization on the ground, innovation in social media, and data analytics, and why the Obama organizations were more innovative than those of his opponents. The essay provides a point of contrast for the other articles in this special issue, which describe sometimes quite different campaign practices in recent elections across Europe.
This article analyzes the use of the online environment within the context of the Polish parliamentary election of 2011. Using traditional methods of content analysis, we find that parties tend to adhere to a professionalized model of campaigning, and adapting online tools to suit the objectives of the campaign. There also appears to be a recognition that their most likely visitors to these online presences would be converts, and so they attempt to mobilize supporters rather than convert browsers. New parties and candidates are more likely to target browsers, with the latter offering a more personalized experience to online visitors. Importantly, when analyzing the outcome of the contest, we find that being online matters for candidates when controlling for all other variables. Equally, the reach the candidate has, which may well influence their vote share, is dependent on offering a more personalized, representational image and having a frequently updated online presence that should encourage repeat visits. Cumulatively, we suggest the future of online campaigning must not only focus on having a presence, but on using it in a way that appeals to a range of visitors, encouraging repeat visits, and that this strategy could have a positive impact on election outcomes.
Research shows that digital media use is positively related to political participation. However, this relationship does not appear in all studies. To date, researchers have generally treated inconsistent findings from study to study and from election to election as an empirical problem that reflects differences in measurement and model specification. In this article, we question the assumption that a consistent relationship between Internet use and political participation should exist over time. We test this expectation using 12 years of data from the American National Election Studies. Our findings support the expectation that a general measure of Internet use for political information is not consistently related to six acts of traditional political participation across elections.
This paper examines political elites and citizens use of the web during the 2007 and 2012 French presidential campaign particularly with the aim of testing the normalization hypothesis at two levels of analysis – supply and demand. It is based on a quantitative content analysis of the candidates' websites and two surveys of French Internet users. The results present a challenge to the normalization thesis at the elite level in that despite a strong division in online performance between the major and other candidates in 2007, by 2012 the minor candidates outperformed their major counterparts Among voters the results also run somewhat contrary to normalization with a weakening in the significance of socio-demographic factors in determining traditional types of online engagement. In addition, the new social media sphere appears to encourage younger and less politicized citizens to participate. The importance of prior political attitudes such as interest and trust, however, remain strong.
From the Arab Spring and los indignados in Spain, to Occupy Wall Street (and beyond), large-scale, sustained protests are using digital media in ways that go beyond sending and receiving messages. Some of these action formations contain relatively small roles for formal brick and mortar organizations. Others involve well-established advocacy organizations, in hybrid relations with other organizations, using technologies that enable personalized public engagement. Both stand in contrast to the more familiar organizationally managed and brokered action conventionally associated with social movement and issue advocacy. This article examines the organizational dynamics that emerge when communication becomes a prominent part of organizational structure. It argues that understanding such variations in large-scale action networks requires distinguishing between at least two logics that may be in play: The familiar logic of collective action associated with high levels of organizational resources and the formation of collective identities, and the less familiar logic of connective action based on personalized content sharing across media networks. In the former, introducing digital media do not change the core dynamics of the action. In the case of the latter, they do. Building on these distinctions, the article presents three ideal types of large-scale action networks that are becoming prominent in the contentious politics of the contemporary era.
This chapter illuminates the importance of studying informal, as well as state-sponsored, forms of democratic participation. It addresses the problems of individuation and the decoupling of states from citizens. It argues that governance strategies designed to enhance social capital have resulted in a growing division between what he terms ‘expert citizens’ and ‘everyday makers’.
Recently, research revolving around blogs has flourished. Usually, academics illustrate what blogs are, motivations to blog, and, only to some extent, their role in politics. Along these lines, we examine the impact of digital politics by looking specifically at blog readers. Although blog readers might be considered at the forefront of a new technological revolution, and people have speculated about their participatory habits both online and off, little research has specifically looked at this growing proportion of the population. This article models factors that predict traditional and online forms of participation, presenting a portrait of a new type of political advocate.
Research dealing with the nexus of collective action, political participation, and digital media confronts three challenges: conceptualizing digital media as an influence on human behavior, finding common ground among new theories, and connecting together individual-level models with structural-level theories. This article addresses these challenges as a theoretical undertaking. It argues that the digital media environment should be understood as a change in the context for action rather than as an individual-level variable, and that this changed context is relevant to behavior because it expands opportunities for action. This expansion involves a range of structural possibilities for viable collective action that entail at least three paths: organizational prompts, social prompts, and self-initiation. There are theoretical reasons to expect that individual-level attributes including age, education, ideology, and personality may differentially affect people’s susceptibility to these prompts. Future research may profit from refinements to behavioral models that account for possible differences across structurally different prompts for action.
This article provides insights into the driving forces that underpin new forms of political participation. Digital technologies offer opportunities for engaging in a wide range of civically oriented activities, each of which can contribute to deeper democratic engagement. Conventional acts of political participation are argued to be driven primarily by intrinsic motivations relating to self-efficacy and empowerment, with participants feeling they can have influence over decision makers. Little research explores whether similar motivations drive participation in less conventional acts, as well as whether mobilization attempts via social media by peers or political organizations mediate those motivations. Drawing on data from a survey among a representative sample of the U.K. electorate, we find the offline and online spheres of agency remain fairly distinct. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations both matter but extrinsic motivations have the strongest explanatory power independent of the sphere of activity. The mediating effect of mobilization tactics has a minimal effect on extrinsic motivations, online or offline, but online intrinsic motivations lose their explanatory power. As intrinsic factors offer little explanatory power, some forms of online political participation may lack meaning to the individual. Rather, these non-conventional acts result from reward seeking and are more likely to be encouraged by nongovernmental campaigning organizations, suggesting social media users are most likely to perform simple acts in support of non-contentious causes.
This study analyzes the relationship between online voter mobilization and political engagement in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom during the 2014 European election campaign. Internet surveys of samples representatives of these countries’ populations with Internet access show that respondents who received an invitation to vote for a party or candidate via e-mail or social media engaged in a significantly higher number of political activities than those who did not. Moreover, the relationship between mobilization and engagement was stronger among those who followed the campaign less attentively, as well as in countries where overall levels of engagement with the campaign were lower (Germany and the United Kingdom) than where they were higher (Italy). These findings indicate that online mobilization may contribute to closing gaps in political engagement at both individual and aggregate levels, and thus suggest that digital media may contribute to reviving democratic citizenship.
As membership levels decline, parties are developing new forms of linkage with supporters, many of which rely on Internet technologies. To date, the discussion of these new modes of affiliation has been largely theoretical in nature, with little, if any, systematic empirical analysis undertaken on their appeal and impact on formal membership. This article seeks to fill this gap by examining the presence of three new types of digital affiliation—audience, friends, and digital activists—among the French electorate using original survey data from the 2012 Presidential election. Our findings are important in showing that while the new methods of affiliation are increasing parties’ reach into society, they are not necessarily widening parties’ socioeconomic support base. Furthermore, digital activism is mostly a supplementary channel for members’ input although there are a smaller group of people engaging in these activities that avoid formal membership ties. Such results suggest that digital methods of affiliation might offer an important new resource to parties during campaigns.
This article examines the role of social media in contemporary political communication, focusing on Barack Obama’s Facebook campaign in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. Although there is a growing body of literature on online forms of participation, little research exists on the role of social buttons on Facebook (like, comment, and share) as tools of political voice. We use these native interactive features as indicators of how citizens engage with particular political messages. A content analysis of posts published on Obama’s official Facebook page over the two months leading up to Election Day was conducted, along with a detailed measurement of all user interactions for each post. Our analysis indicates that the Obama campaign used Facebook as a tool of top-down promotion, focusing on Obama’s personality and as a means of strategically guiding followers to act, rather than as a means of bottom-up empowerment or hybridized coproduction. However, we also found that followers engaged selectively with campaign messages and often interacted more with policy-oriented posts than with promotional ones.
This article explores whether use of the Internet changes the role that political motivation has traditionally played in classic explanations of participation. We ask if, by reducing so dramatically the costs of political participation, the Internet causes interest in politics to lose importance as a causal factor of participation. We examine this issue analysing a representative survey of the Spanish population which deals with political participation and Internet use. The results show that use of Internet has a direct effect on participation independently of motivation, and that, in order to participate online, skilled Internet users do not need to be motivated or interested in politics.
While the study of e-participation has gained increasing attention within political science, our understanding of its underlying structure and relationship to offline participation is limited. This article addresses these gaps by focusing on three interrelated questions: (1) Is e-participation a multidimensional phenomenon (differentiation hypothesis)? (2) If submodes exist, do they mirror existing modes of participation (replication hypothesis)? (3) If offline forms are replicated online, do they mix together (integration hypothesis) or operate in separate spheres (independence hypothesis)? We test our hypotheses through confirmatory factor analysis of original survey data from the U.K. General Election of 2010. The results show that distinct submodes of e-participation, comparable to those occurring offline, can be identified. Support for integration and independence varies according to the type of participation undertaken. Finally our results suggest that the online environment may be fostering a new social-media-based type of expressive political behavior.
This study used an online panel of Internet users to examine the degree to which blog users practice selective exposure when seeking political information. The research employed a path analysis model to explore the extent to which exposure to offline and online discussion of political issues, and offline and online media use, as well as political variables and demographic factors, predict an individual's likelihood to engage in selective exposure to blogs. The findings indicate that respondents did practice selective exposure to blogs, predominantly those who are heavy blog users, politically active both online and offline, partisan, and highly educated.
Online campaigning in France
- K Koc-Michalska
- R Gibson
- T Vedel
Koc-Michalska, K., Gibson, R, & Vedel, T. (2014). Online campaigning in France, 2007-2012:
Political actors and citizens in the aftermath of the Web.2.0 evolution. Journal of Information
Technology & Politics, 11(2), 220-244.
this issue). I shield myself from thee: Selective avoidance on social media during political protests
- M Skoric
- Q Zhu
- S Chen
Skoric, M., Zhu, Q., & Chen, S. (this issue). I shield myself from thee: Selective avoidance on social
media during political protests. Political Communication.