Cover not available
Article published In:
Re/constructing Politics Through Social & Online Media: Discourses, ideologies, and mediated political practices
Edited by Michał Krzyżanowski and Joshua A. Tucker
[Journal of Language and Politics 17:2] 2018
► pp. 305–323

Social media and political communication

Innovation and normalisation in parallel

ORCID logo | Örebro University
| Örebro University

As the Internet has come to play a greater role in politics, there has been a growing scholarly interest in how digital and social media are changing politics. The competition between the innovation and normalization hypotheses has been at the center of the debate. This article sets out to identify evidence of innovation and normalization in terms of how politicians communicate in- and the level of influence they are attaining within the political blogosphere. The analyses conducted show paradoxical results as we find that those groups of politicians who are utilizing political communication in the blogosphere in more innovative and progressive ways – mirroring the hopes and expectations about how social media might influence politicians and political communication – have weaker positions within the blog network compared to other politicians.

Keywords: social media, blogging, political communication, political representation, interactivity, individualism, gender, political parties
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical discussion
    • 2.1Political communication and the internet
    • 2.2Individualism and political parties
    • 2.3Gender and political communication
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1Measurements
      • Dependent variables
      • Independent variables
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Who blogs?
    • 4.2Political representatives’ use of social media
    • 4.3Understanding power in the political blogosphere
  • 5.Discussion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 30 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17006.kar
References
Agre, Philip. E.
2002 “Real-time Politics: The Internet and the Political Process”. The Information Society 18(5): 311–331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Albrecht, Steffen, Maren Lübcke, and Rasco Hartig-Perschke
2007 “Weblog Campaigning in the German Bundestag Election 2005”. Social Science Computer Review 25(4): 504–520. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Åström, Joachim, Martin and Karlsson
2013 “Blogging in the Shadow of Parties: Exploring Ideological Differences in Online Campaigning”. Political Communication 30(3), 434–455. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 “The Feminine Style, the Male Influence, and the Paradox of Gendered Political Blogspace”. Information, Communication & Society 19(11) 1636–1652. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blumler, Jay. G., and Dennis Kavanagh
1999 “The third Age of Political Communication: Influences and Features”. Political Communication 16(3): 209–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bystrom, Dianne G., Mary Christine Banwart, Lynda Lee Kaid, and Terry A. Robertson
2004 Gender and Candidate Communication: Videostyle, webstyle, newsstyle. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs
1989 Man Cannot Speak for Her. Westport, CT: Greenwood PressGoogle Scholar
Coleman, Stephen, and Jay G. Blumler
2009 The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice and Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coleman, Stephen, and Giles Moss
2008 “Governing at a Distance: Politicians in the Blogosphere”. Information Polity 13(1-2), 7–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coleman, Stephen, John Taylor, and Wim van de Donk
(Eds.) 1999 Parliament in the Age of the Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coleman, Stephen
2005 “New Mediation and Direct Representation: Reconceptualizing Representation in the Digital Age”. New Media & Society, 7(2), 177–198. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Denters, Bas, and Jan-Peter Klok
2013 “Citizen Democracy and the Responsiveness of Councillors: The Effects of Democratic Institutionalisation on the Role Orientations and Role Behaviour of Councillors”. Local government studies 39(5), 661–680. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dolan, Kathleen
2014 “Gender stereotypes, Candidate Evaluations, and Voting for Women Candidates: What Really Matters?” Political Research Quarterly 67(1), 96–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ekdale, Brian. Kang Namkoong, Kang, Timothy K.F Fung, and David Perlmutter, David
2010 “Why Blog? (Then and Now): Exploring the Motivations for Blogging by Popular American Political Bloggers”. New Media & Society 121, 217–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fung, Archon
2006 “Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance”. Public Administration Review 66(s1), 66–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gibson, Rachel, and Andrea Römmele
2001 “Changing Campaign Communications: A Party-Centered Theory of Professionalized Campaigning”. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 6(4), 31–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilljam, Mikael, David Karlsson, and Anders Sundell
2010 “Representationsprinciper i Riksdag och Kommuner” in Brothén, Martin & Holmberg, Sören (Eds.) Folkets Representanter: En bok om Riksdagsledamöter och Politisk Representation i Sverige, 35–64. Göteborg: Statsvetenskapliga Institutionen, Göteborgs Universitet.Google Scholar
Harp, Dustin, Mark and Tremayne
2006 “The Gendered Blogosphere: Examining Inequality Using Network and Feminist Theory”. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 83(2), 247–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hindman, Matthew
2008 The Myth of Digital Democracy. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, Nigel
2008 “ ‘Scattergun’ or ‘Rifle’ Approach to Communication: MPs in the Blogosphere”. Information Polity, 13(1-2), 97–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnston, Anne, Barbara Friedman, and Sarah Peach
2011 “Standpoint in Political Blogs: Voice, Authority, and Issues”. Women’s Studies 40(3), 269–298 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karlsson, Martin
2013a “Representation as Interactive Communication: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings”. Information, Communication & Society 16(8), 1201–1222. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013b Covering distance: Essays on Representation and Political Communication. Örebro: Örebro university.Google Scholar
Karlsson, Martin, and Åström, Joachim
2016 “The political Blog Space: A New Arena for Political Representation?” New Media & Society 18(3): 1461–4448. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karlsen, Rune
2009 “Campaign Communication and the Internet: Party Strategy in the 2005 Norwegian Election Campaign”. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 19(2), 183–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lawson-Borders, Graice, and Rita Kirk
2005 “Blogs in campaign communication”. American Behavioral Scientist 49(4): 548–559. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, John Levi
2017 Thinking Through Methods: A Social Science Primer. University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Margolis, Michael, and David Resnick
2000 Politics as Usual: The Cyberspace Revolution. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Meeks, Lindsey
2016 “Gendered Styles, Gendered Differences: Candidates’ Use of Personalization and Interactivity on Twitter”. Journal of Information Technology & Politics 13(4), 295–310. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norris, Pippa
2000 A virtuous circle: Political communications in postindustrial societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 Digital divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norton, Phillip
2007 “Four Models of Political Representation: British MPs and the Use of ICT”. The Journal of Legislative Studies 13(3), 354–369. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Persson, J., and Richard Öhrvall
2008 Förtroendevalda i Kommuner och Landsting 2007: En Rapport om Politikerantal och Representativitet. Stockholm, Sweden: Statistiska centralbyrån.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert David
2000 “Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital”. In Lane Crothers & Charles Lockhart (Eds.) Culture and politics: A Reader, 223–234. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.Google Scholar
Razin, Eran
2013 “Councillors and their Parties”. In Local councillors in Europe, 51–62. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sampaio, Anna and Janni Aragon
1997 “ ‘To Boldly go (where no Man has Gone before)’: Women and Politics in Cyberspace”. New Political Science 19(3), 145–168.Google Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, Kira
2002 “Gender Stereotypes and Vote Choice”. American Journal of Political Science 46(1), 20–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schweitzer, Eva Johanna
2008 “Innovation or Normalization in e-Campaigning? A longitudinal Content and Structural Analysis of German Party Websites in the 2002 and 2005 National Elections”. European Journal of Communication 23(4): 449–470. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Segerberg, Alexandra and Lance Bennett
2011 “Social Media and the Organization of Collective Action: Using Twitter to Explore the Ecologies of two Climate Change Protests”. The Communication Review 14(3), 197–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shahin, Jamal, and Christine Neuhold
2007 “ ‘Connecting Europe’: The Use of ‘New’ Information and Communication Technologies within European Parliament Standing Committees”. The Journal of Legislative Studies 13(3), 388–402. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shaw, Aaron and Yoshi Benkler
2012 “A tale of two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right”. American Behavioral Scientist 56(4), 459–487. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stanley, J. Woody, and Christopher Weare
2004 “The Effects of Internet Use on Political Participation Evidence from an Agency Online Discussion Forum”. Administration & Society 36(5), 503–527. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trammell, Kaye D., Alek Tarkowski, Justyna Hofmokl, and Amanda M. Sapp
2006 “Republic of Blog: Examining Polish bloggers through Content Analysis”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11 (2), 702–722. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wright, Scott
2008 “Read my day? Communication, Campaigning and Councillors’ blogs”. Information Polity 13(1–2), 41–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “Politics as Usual? Revolution, Normalization and a New Agenda for Online Deliberation”. New Media & Society, 14(2), 244–261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zittel, Thomas, and Thomas Gschwend
2008 “Individualised Constituency Campaigns in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: Candidates in the 2005 German Elections”. West European Politics 31(5), 978–1003. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zittel, Thomas
2003 Political Representation in the Networked Society: the Americanisation of European systems of Responsible Party Government? The Journal of Legislative Studies 9(3), 32–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Dobkiewicz, Patryk
2019. Instagram narratives in Trump’s America. Journal of Language and Politics 18:6 ► pp. 826 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.