The influence of the citizen: Government, traditional media, and the InternetElizabeth Dubois

December 5, 2013

Elizabeth DuboisDPhil (PhD) Information, Communication, and the Social Sciences, CandidateUniversity of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute

www.elizabethdubois.ca | Twitter: @lizdubois

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Outline

The ecology of actors;

The Nova Scotia election;

Social Media Lab and #NSpoli; Who is #NSpoli?; Partisan camps; Topics of conversation; E-day media frenzy;

The ecology revisited.

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The Ecology of Actors

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The New Politician

Lead government, policy decisions

Appeal to voters via mass media, campaigns, social media, personal media

Announcements via Twitter

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The New Journalist

Constant communication, real-time reporting

Many types of “journalist”

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The New Activist

Intensity of engagement

Flexibility New tactics in

their repertoire

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The Timeline

39th general election

Summer 2013: election speculation

Sept. 7, 2013: election called

Oct. 8, 2013: election held

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Social Media Lab and #NSpoli

Twitter: social network and news media.

Three blog posts.

Media attention.

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Why Twitter?

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Starting point;News and chat;

Many political players.

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Hey Twitter,What’s a #hashtag?

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Who is #NSpoli?

Twitter use in this election is growing over time,

Dense groupings around parties,

NDP seems to have the largest presence.

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Tweets over time

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Q:

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Which users matter?

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#NSpoli network Aug 22

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Social Network Analysis

@ImTweeting: Check out this article about MLA @Bob - game changer for #NSvotes. LINK

@lizdubois: Hey @dalprof, did you see that cool article @ImTweeting re-posted about MLA @bob? #NSvotes LINK

node id, node name1234, LizDubois5678, dalprof9101, ImTweeting1121, Bob

edge1, edge29101, 11211234, 56781234, 91011234, 1121

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#NSpoli network Aug 22

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#NSpoli network Sep 22

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NDP remain central.

@NSPC growth.

Unions in a cluster.

Partisan camps

2020

Topics of conversation

“Care,” Cape Breton, and Party Leaders.

“Aren’t we great” during the debate.

Hashtag co-use.

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Top Topics

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E-day media frenzy

The missing media.

The rest of Twitter.

“Who” is not a person.

#NSpoli#NSvotes#NSelxn13#NSpoli#NSvotes#NSvotes#NSelxn13#NSpoli#NSvotes#NSelxn13

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The missing media

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5 219 accounts70 000 tweets

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#NSpoli#NSvotes#NSelxn13#cbpoliticsTwitter listsSpecific public influentials

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“Who” is not a person.

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Ecology revisited

“Networked” political players.

New political players?

Shifting relationships and power.

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Questions?

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Discussion points:

How much weight should be put on social media, it is only one piece of the puzzle after all?

Should social media profiles and feeds be a broadcast system or a arena for discussion?

Should staff be required to disclose their partisan affiliation online?

Should government workers be allowed to freely use social media?

What role should bots play in information dissemination during campaigns - are automated accounts ok?

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