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Joshua Block

Dr. Colombo

UWRT 1104

20 February 2017

Research Question: How has social media affected modern-day politics?

Research Journal Entry #1

Citation:

Sanders, Sam. Social Media's Increasing Role In The 2016 Presidential Election. NPR, NPR,

www.npr.org/2016/11/07/500977344/social-media-s-role-increases-in-2016-presidential-election

Main Claim:

1.) Did social media help make 2016 one of the nastiest campaign seasons ever? In

part yes, due to the nature of social networks.

2.) Social media networks have the tendency to arouse political discussion amongst

many, and this has contributed to the 2016 presidential election being one of the most

controversial in history.

Summary:

In this article, host Renee Montagne and commentator Sam Sanders discuss the topic of

political engagement in popular social media platforms. Sanders mentions the presidential

campaign of Donald Trump and how it utilized social media in a way that saved millions of

dollars yet was effective enough to actually win the election. He covers that instead of spending

all of his budget on advertising, instead he would simply post his political and social standings

over social media for it would generate an equal amount of attention without spending any

money at all. He talks about how the actions of the Donald Trump administration affected the

voter population, and the specific effects it had on the other candidates campaigns such as that
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of Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. It became popular for voters and candidates alike to attack the

opposing side over social media.

Evaluation:

This article was formulated from a real conversation between Renee Montagne, and

NPRs Sam Sanders who has been studying and reporting social medias impact on the political

field for years. This article is highly relevant to my topic due to the fact that it discusses the

nature of social media platforms and how they innately stir controversy and heated discussion

amongst users. Specific examples of social media effects on politics were provided in the article,

such as how the Jeb Bush campaign and the Hillary Clinton campaign attacked each other back

and forth over social media, that promoted an even more clear sense of how politics have been

affected by social media usage.

Important Quotes:

the critique of Facebook is that it's now become an echo chamber. The algorithm that controls

your newsfeed favors content that you've liked before and matches your own politics.

This is the big question, of course - has social media made our political discourse better or

worse?

But then team Clinton replies again. They scratch out the words in the Bush response, they

scribble on top of the graphic and then write a big F (for Failure) on top of that.

Research Journal Entry #2

Citation:
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Wilson, Christopher, and Zeynep Tufekci. Social Media and the Decision to Participate in

Political Protest: Observations From Tahrir Square. Onlinelibrary.wiley.com, 6 Mar. 2012,

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01629.x/full

Main Claim:

1.) As much of the debate regarding the role of online activity in political change

had been focused on Western democracies, we offer a new theoretical perspective on the

role of the Internet and social media in authoritarian regimes.

2.) In contrast to most current articles reporting on the role of social media in politics

with heavy influence from the United States and other similar nations, this article gives

insight on the role social media has in politics in Authoritarian regimes.

Summary:

This article discusses the usage of social media in politics in authoritarian regimes and

focuses on Egypt specifically. It goes on to discuss the Tahrir Square protests and how social

media (specifically Facebook) was how about 50% of the protesters knew about the protest. The

article then explains that Egypt is not a country where the citizens are fully allowed to voice their

opinions, but social media provided a way to do that easily without necessarily being persecuted

for it. The article mentions, however, that some bloggers were found and persecuted for speaking

against the government and they were often jailed for extended periods of time. The author

brings attention to the fact that many of the avid users of social media were those of liberal

mindset (often minorities) that were opposed to the currently reigning Mubarak regime.

Evaluation:

This article was written by Zeynep Tufekci and Christopher Wilson, and gives thorough

insight on the effects social media has in politics in authoritarian regimes. The authors utilized

many reliable sources to generate their information, and based many of their claims on facts and
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real-life occurrences. The article explains in detail the reasonings for this new political

communication that exists today; stating that the lowering costs and heightening capabilities of

mobile phones is a key contributor to the influx of communication on such platforms as

Facebook and Twitter. This article was highly based off of factual informations, and provides key

insight on alternative perspectives of social media usage in politics.

Important Quotes:

The Internet in Egypt was quickly utilized for dissent by liberals, minorities, religious groups,

and others opposed to the Mubarak regime.

The introduction of Facebook in Arabic in 2009 amplified this process. Political content online

increased, with multiple campaigns by citizen journalists and online activists exposing poverty,

corruption, and human rights abuses, including torture.

Shortly after Tunisian unrest broke out in December 2010, there was first a dispersed campaign

and later a firm protest date (January 25, 2011), and an invitation in the already popular We are

All Khaled Said page on Facebook.

Research Journal Entry #3

Citation:

Bruns, Axel, et al. The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics. Basingstoke, Taylor

& Francis Ltd, 2016, Election Campaigning in the Hybrid Media System,

uncc.worldcat.org/title/routledge-companion-to-social-media-and-

politics/oclc/933433902&referer=brief_results.

Main Claim:
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1.) In U.S. presidential campaign more broadly, the real-space spectacles of

candidate appearances continue to generate the important television coverage that

remains crucial for projecting the power of a candidate and for conveying enthusiasm,

authenticity, and common purpose to both activists and non-activists alike.

2.) Common sources of media continue to cover U.S. presidential campaigns in ways

that present each candidate with the sense of influence, that in turn presents followers

and/or opposers with opportunity to recoil with their own opinions.

Summary:

This chapter of the book The Routledge companion to social media and politics focuses

on specific election campaigns such as that of Barack Obamas in 2008. The author provides

numerous statistics regarding the Obama campaign in 2008 such as how it raised 750 million

dollars, 500 million of it was raised online, 407 million of it was spent on advertisement, and

only 17 million of this was spent on online ads (roughly translated to four ads per cent). The

chapter mentions the notable differences between social media involvement in the 2008 election

as compared to the 2016 election. One notable difference that is discussed is how social media

has been altered over the years and that in 2008, it was easier to reach people in large masses,

whereas nowadays campaigns are directed towards specific target audiences.

Evaluation:

This eBook has multiple different authors with multiple different backgrounds in the

subjects of social media and political science. The specific chapter of Election Campaigning in

the Hybrid Media System shows extensive research and utilized multiple sources for a basis of

information. This specific chapter delves into the behavioral aspects of those that heavily

integrate social media into their political views, and mentions how both online and offline
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activities can influence and promote the other. This chapter bases its information off of raw

statistics and accurately compares how social media has changed over time.

Important Quotes:

Election campaigns are characterized by the growing systemic integration of the internet and

television.

Online tools now also give a campaign team direct access to the public, through campaign

websites and social media, and this fosters reciprocity and virality.

Campaign teams can no longer assume that they will reach audiences en masse. They now

create content targeted at different audience segments, and they disseminate this content across

different media.

Research Journal Entry #4

Citation:

Wihbey, John. How Does Social Media Use Influence Political Participation and Civic

Engagement? A Meta-Analysis. Journalist's Resource, 21 Oct. 2015,

journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/digital-democracy/social-media-influence-politics-

participation-engagement-meta-analysis.

Main Claim:

1.) In an era when the publics time and attention is increasingly directed toward

platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, scholars are seeking to evaluate the still-

emerging relationship between social media use and public engagement.

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2.) Professionals have begun to delve deeper and deeper into the correlation of social

media and public engagement with the steadily increasing investments into social media

platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.

Summary:

This article analyzes the direct statistics behind social medias influence on voters. The

article talks about various studies of social medias influence in the past few elections, such as

the 2012 study published in the journal Nature, A 61-million-person Experiment in Social

Influence and Political Mobilization which presented that Facebook usage for political purposes

generated and changed/influenced 340,000 additional votes in the election. The article also

delves into a a 2015 metastudy in the journal Information, Communication & Society, Social

Media Use and Participation: A Meta-analysis of Current Research and states the key findings

of it. The article concludes with stating that many of the professionals in the fields of social

media and politics believe that social media at the very least increases the amount of political

engagement.

Evaluation:

This article cites multiple professional studies in the field of social medias involvement

in politics. It provides raw data found in many of the citations presented, such as 82% of

individuals in the 2015 metastudy showed a positive relationship between social media platforms

and some form of political engagement. This is helpful towards my specific topic because it

presents me with multiple studies that are all relevant to my topic, and presents reliable statistics

from researched experiments.

Important Quotes:
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Academic research has consistently found that people who consume more news media have a

greater probability of being civically and politically engaged across a variety of measures.

There are now thousands of studies on the effects of social networking sites (SNS) on offline

behavior, but isolating common themes is not easy. Researchers often use unique datasets, ask

different questions and measure a range of outcomes.

It is worth noting that many studies in this area take social media use as the starting point or

independent variable, and therefore cannot rule out that some deeper cause political

interest, for example is the reason people might engage in SNS use in the first place.

Research Journal Entry #5

Citation:

Lang, Marissa. 2016 Presidential Election Circus: Is Social Media the Cause? Government

Technology, www.govtech.com/social/2016-Presidential-Election-Circus-Is-Social-Media-the-

Cause.html.

Main Claim:

1.) Today, social media has evolved from afterthought to strategy, he said, thanks

largely to Trump's habitual social-media-first proclamations. Candidates have begun

using sites like Twitter and Facebook as a direct line to voters.

2.) Due to Donald Trumps spontaneous social networking first approach to

campaigning, there has been an influx of candidates utilizing social media as a method of

gaining support.

Summary:
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This article is a discussion about Donald Trump, and many of his strategies and

utilizations of social media in his campaign for presidency. The article states that Donald Trump

saved roughly 380 million dollars on ad space by simply posting on social media platforms such

as Facebook or Twitter, and them gaining popularity through likes, shares, retweets, etc. The

article also presents insight on why social media has become such a prominent battleground for

candidates. The article also makes note of the differences between social media usage in the

recent 2016 election, as compared to the 2012 election. The article quotes that social media

politics were boring just four years ago, and now it is a highly recommended strategy for any

candidate. The article concludes with a quote from Patrick Ruffini, republican political strategist,

stating that Trumps campaign based around social media is the story of the 2016 election.

Evaluation:

This particular journal entry presents some statistical figures, and presents real quotes

from various professionals in the field, such as Patrick Ruffini (founder of digital media firm

Engage) and Frank Speiser (co-founder of SocialFlow). This journal entry gives a more

individualistic perspective of social medias involvement in politics and is helpful because it is

less centered on raw facts, and more centered around the behavioral aspects of the people.

Having multiple perspectives can help eliminate bias in my own research. This article also gives

helpful insight into the Trump campaign and the details of his stratagem in 2016 election.

Important Quotes:

Among 18- to 29-year-olds, nearly two-thirds said social media is the most helpful means of

learning new things about politics, according to a study released last year by the Pew Research

Center.
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"One thing that Trump does is he will combine two or three issues in a single statement or

proposal. Now, he may be muddling them, but it doesn't matter because it activates groups that

are interested in all of the above. Like how he'll conflate crime and gun violence with

immigration. It may not be true, but the fact that he says it excites groups whose top issues are

crime or guns or immigration."

"The amount of free media exposure given to Trump -- whether that's on social media or more

traditional news media -- I think is absolutely the story of the election. We've just never seen

anything like it before."