Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Joshua Block
Dr. Colombo
UWRT 1104
20 February 2017
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
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
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
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.
Citation:
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Wilson, Christopher, and Zeynep Tufekci. Social Media and the Decision to Participate in
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
with heavy influence from the United States and other similar nations, this article gives
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
Facebook and Twitter. This article was highly based off of factual informations, and provides key
Important Quotes:
The Internet in Egypt was quickly utilized for dissent by liberals, minorities, religious groups,
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,
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
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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remains crucial for projecting the power of a candidate and for conveying enthusiasm,
that present each candidate with the sense of influence, that in turn presents followers
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,
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.
Citation:
Wihbey, John. How Does Social Media Use Influence Political Participation and Civic
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-
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
"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