slides from November 5, 2012, the third session of the course Social Media and the U.S. Election. The course is taught by Janelle Ward and hosted by the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

1. Social Media and
the U.S. Election
janelle.ward@gmail.com
www.janelleward.com
@janelle_ward

2. Links on last week’s discussion
• Substantive research on Twitter:
How Political Magazines Use Twitter to Drive 2012 Election
– Susan Currie Sivek
• Check for more content here: PBS MediaShift’s Special
Series: Election 2012
• Also: Exposure or Rhetoric: Fan Politics on Facebook
– Janet Johnson, Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric
• Swing State Hell
• The Twitter Political Index

3. Assignment from last week
• Consuming the campaign: How are voters using social
media to talk about the election?
• *perceptions of the candidates/campaigns
• *interaction with other citizens
• Some ideas:
– Follow your own Facebook feed & look for election mentions
– Find an election-related Twitter handle/hashtag and monitor

4. How are voters using social media
to talk about the election?
• 1) Research (lots of research!)
• 2) How citizens perceive politicians on
Facebook (Gabrielle Grow &
authenticity)
• 3) Case study: #Eastwooding

5. 1) Research
• Does internet use affect engagement? (Boulainne)
• Three main theories focus on how the internet will
affect civic and political engagement of citizens:
– some think the internet will have a detrimental effect on
engagement (internet = entertainment)
– others say the internet will have a positive effect on
engagement
– still others argue that the internet could mobilize those
that are currently politically inactive (particularly youth)

6. 1) Research
• Boulainne analyzed 38 studies and 166 effects testing the
relationship between internet use and civic/political
engagement (focused on U.S.; studies published between 1998 and 2008)
• generally found little evidence that internet use contributes
to civic decline; findings suggest that effect of internet use
on engagement is positive
– effects more likely to be positive if researchers included “online news” as a
part of internet use (so those that read the news online are more likely to be
politically engaged)
• conversely, civic/political engagement does not have a
significant effect on internet use

7. 1) Research
• Pew (released October 11, 2012): The
dual screen election
• About a third (36%) of
Americans got debate
coverage online or from
social networking sites; far
more (78%) say they got
coverage from traditional
sources, including television,
newspapers, or radio.

8. 1) Research

9. 1) Research
• Pew: The dual screen election
• Social media platforms (FB, Twitter, YouTube)
are growing especially rapidly as a source of
political news. The number of Americans who
say they regularly go to these destinations to
learn about the campaign has doubled since
January (but still just 17%).

10. 1) Research
• NPR: In Twitter We Trust - research from
Brian Houston and Jon Krosnick:
– “One tweet at a time:” cements bonds between
people, helps with information dissemination
– “A whole bunch at a time:” media reports
numbers and communicates a norm
– The difficulty of coding for sarcasm / snark high

11. 1) Research
• Pew Internet & American Life Project:
Social Media and Political Engagement
– a new survey (Oct. 19, 2012) finds that 66% of social
media users—or 39% of all American adults—have
done at least one of eight civic or political activities
with social media.

12. 2) Gabrielle Grow’s research
• How citizens perceive politicians on
Facebook (authenticity)

13. The Role of Authenticity in Electoral
Social Media Campaigns
Gabrielle Grow
gab.grow@gmail.com
gabriellegrow.com

14. What can you tell me about this
candidate’s character?

15. Research Findings
• Respondents found this candidate relatable
because the photo is not posed, and because
they see a more “human” side to him
“…it looks like an actual
family photo which is
refreshing, I think I can’t help
but have a more positive
image if I see a picture like
that.”
Research Respondent

16. What can you tell me about this
candidate’s character?

17. Research Findings
• Respondents were skeptical of the candidate’s motives for posting this
Note, but also mentioned that they felt it was necessary to share this
information
“it’s like an oxymoron when you ask
for a candidate’s character. We’re kind
of attuned to being skeptical of a
candidate’s character.”
Research Respondent

18. Suggestions for authenticity:

19. 3) Case study: #Eastwooding
• Clint Eastwood speech at
the Republican National
Convention
– The Daily Beast; Know your Meme
• Obama’s official Twitter
account posted a photo of
Obama seated in a chair with
the caption “This seat’s
taken.” (55,263 retweets and
22,589 favorites)

20. 3) Case study: #Eastwooding
• During the speech
@InvisibleObama tweeted for the
first time, using a picture of an
empty chair as its icon. (source)

21. 3) Case study: #Eastwooding
• In 24 hours, over 90,000 tweets were posted
about Clint Eastwood (source)

22. 3) Case study: #Eastwooding
• The hashtag #Eastwooding
generated 25,325 tweets in 24
hours
• More than 850 Instagram
photos were tagged
#Eastwooding
• By the next day, Eastwooding
photos were featured on the
Atlantic, the Huffingon Post,
New York Daily News, Fox News,
etc. (source)

23. Producing or consuming the campaign?
• Gotye parody video
• link

24. For next week
• Looking ahead to our final week:
• How important is/was (social) media
campaigning in determining the winner?
• Can social media predict election outcomes?
• Stay up all night on election night and take
notes!