Controlling the Message: New Media in American Political Campaigns

Published by New York University Press 2015

Controlling the Message

New Media in American Political Campaigns

Edited by: Victoria A. Farrar-Myers and Justin S. Vaughn

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479886357.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2016

From the presidential race to the battle for the office of New York City mayor, American political candidates’ approach to new media strategy is increasingly what makes or breaks their campaign. Targeted outreach on Facebook and Twitter, placement of a well-timed viral ad, and the ability to roll with the memes, flame wars, and downvotes that might spring from ordinary citizens’ engagement with the issues—these skills are heralded as crucial for anyone hoping to get their views heard in a chaotic election cycle. But just how effective are the kinds of media strategies that American politicians employ? And what effect, if any, do citizen-created political media have on the tide of public opinion?

In Controlling the Message, Farrar-Myers and Vaughn curate a series of case studies that use real-time original research from the 2012 election season to explore how politicians and ordinary citizens use and consume new media during political campaigns. Broken down into sections that examine new media strategy from the highest echelons of campaign management all the way down to passive citizen engagement with campaign issues in places like online comment forums, the book ultimately reveals that political messaging in today’s diverse new media landscape is a fragile, unpredictable, and sometimes futile process. The result is a collection that both interprets important historical data from a watershed campaign season and also explains myriad approaches to political campaign media scholarship—an ideal volume for students, scholars, and political analysts alike.

Author / Editor information

Farrar-Myers Victoria A. :

Victoria A. Farrar-Myers is an award-winning scholar and teacher, and a former Fulbright Distinguished Chair and APSA Congressional Fellow. Her publications include Scripted for Change and Legislative Labyrinth.Vaughn Justin S. :

Justin S. Vaughn is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boise State University. His publications include Czars in the White House and Women and the White House.

Reviews

David Tewksbury,co-author of News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century:
The research reported in this comprehensive volume provides a snapshot of an important point in the evolution of American political campaigns. The books examination of the production and effects of social media messages will help us understand their role in contemporary campaigns. Most importantly, the research helps the discipline define the practical limits of social media influence and identify areas for future research.

Lori Cox Han,author of New Directions in the American Presidency:
This book is well researched and is a high quality addition to the existing literature on campaign communications. The contributors do an excellent job relying on current research in the field while presenting new and important data. The timeliness of the research throughout makes it a solid contribution, particularly with the new data provided on various forms of social media use during the most recent presidential campaign.

The 2012 presidential and congressional races serve as a laboratory for the scholars in this volume, who contribute 13 chapters on the impact of social media (Twitter,Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and online forums) on these elections...[P]olitical scientists specializing in this emerging field will appreciate the rigor of these studies

Much has been made of President Barack Obama's strategy on social media...it's an interesting examination at a time when pundits are already discussing that the last time potential GOP candidate Jeb Bush ran for office (2002's Florida gubernatorial election), neither Twitter nor Facebook existed.

Controlling the Messagebrings valuable data and sharp analysis to bear on timely, important questions.

[T]he book is a great resource book for the role of social media in political campaigns with a nuanced view and solid empirical data to back up their claims.

This is an indispensable book for those studying politics and social media. This is especially the case given the diversity of research strategies and subject matter examined throughout the text. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Controlling the Message in the Social Media Marketplace of Ideas Victoria A. Farrar-Myers and Justin S. Vaughn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART 1: ELITE UTILIZATION
1. Strategic Communication in a Networked Age Daniel Kreiss and Creighton Welch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. Congressional Campaigns’ Motivations for Social Media Adoption Girish J. Gulati and Christine B. Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
3. Surrogates or Competitors? Social Media Use by Independent Political Actors Julia R. Azari and Benjamin A. Stewart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4. The Competition to Control Campaign Messages on YouTube Robert J. Klotz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
PART 2: MESSAGE CONTROL IN THE NEW MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
5. Campaign News in the Time of Twitter Regina G. Lawrence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
6. New and Traditional Media Reportage on Electoral Campaign Controversies Mike Gruszczynski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
7. Traditional Media, Social Media, and Different Presidential Campaign Messages Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
PART 3: SOCIAL MEDIA’S IMPACT ON CAMPAIGN POLITICS
8. The Influence of User-Controlled Messages on Candidate Evaluations Joshua Hawthorne and Benjamin R. Warner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
9. Terms of Engagement Online Political Participation and the Impact on Offline Political Participation Meredith Conroy, Jessica T. Feezell and Mario Guerrero Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
10. Is Laughter the Best Medicine for Politics? Commercial versus Noncommercial YouTube Videos Todd L. Belt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
PART 4: SOCIAL MEDIA AND CIVIC RELATIONS
11. Comment Forum Speech as a Mirror of Mainstream Discourse Karen S. Hoffman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
12. Sparking Debate Campaigns, Social Media, and Political Incivility Daniel J. Coffey, Michael Kohler and Douglas M. Granger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
13. Flaming and Blaming The Political Effect of Internet News and Reader “Comments” Brian R. Calfano Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	270
Conclusion Message Control at the Margins Victoria A. Farrar-Myers and Justin S. Vaughn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	302
About the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Illustrations
- Other: 69 black and white illustrations

eBook

Published: March 27, 2015
ISBN: 9781479865505