Talk for DePaul College of Computing and Digital Media Colloquium series. Based on the paper
Shapiro, M. and Hemphill, L. (2016) Politicians and the Policy Agenda: Does the U.S. Congress Direct New York Times Content through Twitter? Policy & Internet. doi: 10.1002/poi3.120
5. Agenda setting
Public
agenda
Personal experience and interpersonal
communication
Policy
agenda
Media
agenda
Real-world indicators of the importance of an
agenda issue or event
Gatekeepersandinfluential
media
6. Agenda setting
Public
agenda
Personal experience and interpersonal
communication
Policy
agenda
Media
agenda
Real-world indicators of the importance of an
agenda issue or event
Gatekeepersandinfluential
media
8. 2.
AGENDA
SETTING VIA
SOCIAL MEDIA
How does Twitter
change the way
agenda setting works?
Can indexing theory
adequately explain
Twitter’s influence if
there is any?
9. Hypotheses
H1: The index of news about a particular
policy issue grows in proportion to the
breadth of debate about the issue on
Twitter.
10. Hypotheses
H2: The index of news about a particular
policy issue grows in proportion to the
dominance of one party over the other in
its Twitter-based discourse.
20. Summary
▸ Social media matters: Congress can
influence New York Times coverage of
political topics through Twitter.
▸ Partisanship gets attention: effects are
strongest when just one party is talking
about the topic.
▸ Indexing theory needs an update - or we
need to define “debate” differently.
21. Open Questions
▸ Does the link between mainstream
media and the public agenda still
stand?
▸ Does Congress also get their
constituents to pay attention through
Twitter?
22. More questions? Contact me!
libby.hemphill@iit.edu
@libbyh
libbyh.com
casmlab.org
github.com/casmlab
▸ Social media in service of social change
▸ Special attention to power and
participation
23. CREDITS
Special thanks to all the people who made and released these
awesome resources for free:
▸ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▸ Photographs by
▹ TNT
▹ Bjoertvedt (Wikimedia Commons)
▹ terimakashi0 (pixabay)
25. Economy Immigration Environment Energy Health Care Marginalized groups
4Jobs CIR ActOnClimate Coal ABetterBargain ChainedCPI MOW50
BalancedBudget CIRMeansJobs Climate Energy ACA DOMA MarriageEquality
DebtCeiling Immigration ClimateChange Keystone ACATurns3 ENDA MJIA
Economy ImmigrationReform Coal KeystoneXL AskSebelius EndHungerNow MST
FiscalCliff TImeIsNow EPA KXL DefundObamacare Equality OffTheSidelines
GOPShutDown TImeToBuild TImeToBuild DontFundIt EqualPay PassENDA
Jobs WarOnCoal WarOnCoal FairnessForAll EqualPayday PassMJIA
NoBudgetNoPay WRRDA FullRepeal Latism PayCheckFairness
ObamaFlightDelays GetCovered LGBT StandUpForWomen
Obamaquester HCR MarchOn VRA
RequireAPlan Healthcare Washington WomenSucceed
Sequester KeepYourHealthPlan
Sequestration KeepYourPlan
Shutdown Medicare
SNAP Obamacare
SpendingIsTheProblem ObamacareInThreeWords
StopTheSequester RateShock
Hashtags
26. New York Times keywords
Economy Immigration Energy Marginalized Groups
Economic Conditions and Trends Illegal Immigrants Natural Gas Blacks
Federal Budget (US) Illegal Immigration Nuclear Energy Civil Rights and Liberties
Income Tax Immigration and Emigration Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline Discrimination
Labor and Jobs
Power (Electric Light and Power; Energy and
Power) Elder Care
Layoffs and Job Reductions Environment Elderly
National Debt (US) Environment Health Care Homosexuality
Recession and Depression Global Warming Healthcare.gov Hispanic-Americans
Shutdowns (Institutional) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Health Insurance and Managed Care Income Inequality
Taxation
Pollution (Air Pollution; Water
Pollution) Medicaid Minimum Wage
United States Economy Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Poverty
Unemployment Race and Ethnicity
Wages and Salaries
Same-sex Marriage, Civil Unions and
Domestic Partnerships
Sexual Harassment
Unemployment Insurance