TY - JOUR
T1 - Facing up to Facebook: politicians, publics and the social media(ted) turn in New Zealand
AU - Ross, Karen
AU - Fountaine, Susan
AU - Comrie, Margie
PY - 2015/3/10
Y1 - 2015/3/10
N2 - Social media have an increasingly important place in the lives of citizens, and their potential to expand the reach of communication messages beyond individual networks is attractive to those looking to maximise message efficiency. The influence of Facebook in Obama’s 2008 campaign success galvanised many politicians into taking it seriously as a campaign tool. Our study explored the Facebook wall posts (1148 in total) of New Zealand Members of Parliament (MPs) leading up to the 2011 general election to determine posting behaviours and differences. Among other things, we found that women posted more frequently than men and that Labour MPs posted more than their National counterparts. Additionally, most politicians do not invite dialogue with readers of their posts, rarely get involved in comment threads and mostly take a monologic approach, using Facebook as a way of broadcasting information rather than as a medium enabling two-way flow. In other words, same old, same old.
AB - Social media have an increasingly important place in the lives of citizens, and their potential to expand the reach of communication messages beyond individual networks is attractive to those looking to maximise message efficiency. The influence of Facebook in Obama’s 2008 campaign success galvanised many politicians into taking it seriously as a campaign tool. Our study explored the Facebook wall posts (1148 in total) of New Zealand Members of Parliament (MPs) leading up to the 2011 general election to determine posting behaviours and differences. Among other things, we found that women posted more frequently than men and that Labour MPs posted more than their National counterparts. Additionally, most politicians do not invite dialogue with readers of their posts, rarely get involved in comment threads and mostly take a monologic approach, using Facebook as a way of broadcasting information rather than as a medium enabling two-way flow. In other words, same old, same old.
KW - election campaigns
KW - Facebook
KW - New Zealand
KW - political communication
KW - social media
U2 - 10.1177/0163443714557983
DO - 10.1177/0163443714557983
M3 - Article
VL - 37
SP - 251
EP - 269
JO - Media, Culture and Society
JF - Media, Culture and Society
SN - 0163-4437
IS - 2
ER -