Tweeting to Power

The Social Media Revolution in American Politics
Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-996509-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 363 g

Reihe: Oxford Studies in Digital Politics

Online social media are changing the face of politics in the United States. Beginning with a strong theoretical foundation grounded in political, communications and psychology literature, Tweeting to Power examines the effect of online social media on how people come to learn, understand and engage in politics. Gainous and Wagner propose that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter offer the opportunity for a new information flow that is no longer being
structured and limited by the popular media. Television and newspapers, which were traditionally the sole or primary gatekeeper, can no longer limit or govern what information is exchanged. By lowering the cost of both supplying the information and obtaining it, social networking applications have recreated how,
when and where people are informed.

To establish this premise, Gainous and Wagner analyze multiple datasets, quantitative and qualitative, exploring and measuring the use of social media by voters and citizens as well as the strategies and approaches adopted by politicians and elected officials. They illustrate how these new and growing online communities are new forums for the exchange of information that is governed by relationships formed and maintained outside traditional media. Using empirical measures, they prove both how
candidates utilize Twitter to shape the information voters rely upon and how effective this effort was at garnering votes in the 2010 congressional elections. With both theory and data, Gainous and Wagner show how the social media revolution is creating a new paradigm for political communication and
shifting the very foundation of the political process.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gainous, Jason

Wagner, Kevin M.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Digitale Medien, Internet, Telekommunikation
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikation & Medien in der Politik
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Computerkommunikation & -vernetzung Social Media, Semantic Web, Web 2.0

Über Autor(innen)

Jason Gainous is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. Kevin M. Wagner is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University.