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Creating interaction in the online political sphere: Which Twitter content triggers response?

Slot, Sanne van 't (2017) Creating interaction in the online political sphere: Which Twitter content triggers response?

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Abstract:Interaction on social media is beneficial for politicians as it can be used to keep citizens up to date, to give citizens attention, to entice new people in politics, and to help increase youngsters’ political efficacy. However, despite the benefits, interaction remains unexplored in research and it remains unknown what kind of messages and message characteristics can trigger interaction. This study aimed at finding out which content from list pullers triggers interaction on Twitter using a content analysis with three categories: topic and issue, opinion and sentiment, and structural. Results from the topic and issue category showed that international topics, visual content (showing logos of the party), and hashtags and emoticon trigger significantly more interaction. The opinion and sentiment category showed that a slightly negative tone triggers more interaction, and that humour triggers likes. The results from the structural category show that mentioning actors generally leads to less interaction. Implications for political communication will especially show in the social media strategies of politicians and the involvement of citizens in political communication. Political communication with a focus on interaction will change one-way broadcasting to a dynamic and complex conversation in which more people will be actively involved than ever before.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/73707
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