Neither Autonomy Nor Elite Steering: A Political Communication Analysis of Campaign and General Tweeting in the 2012 U.S. Election

22 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2013

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between campaign communications and the discursive frames articulated more generally by social media users in the context of the 2012 U.S. presidential election. It identifies campaign frames with respect to the clusters of terms produced by the campaigns themselves and identifies the extent to which these same clusters prevail over time throughout the campaign in the tweets produced by Twitter users more generally. The findings suggest that some frames fail to resonate at all while others prevail primarily with the intensification of campaign communications. These results indicate that tweets produced by the general public are neither wholly steered by elites nor wholly autonomous. Rather they appear dialogical.

Suggested Citation

Jensen, Michael, Neither Autonomy Nor Elite Steering: A Political Communication Analysis of Campaign and General Tweeting in the 2012 U.S. Election (2013). APSA 2013 Annual Meeting Paper, American Political Science Association 2013 Annual Meeting, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2301227

Michael Jensen (Contact Author)

University of Canberra ( email )

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601
Australia

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