Beyond normalization and equalization on Twitter: Politicians’ Twitter use during non-election times and influences of media attention

Abstract

<jats:p>Twitter has already become one of the most important social media platforms for political communication. Concerning the use of Twitter in politics, two possible developments have been at the core of the theoretical discussion – equalization and normalization. As normalization seems to be the case in most western countries about politicians’ Twitter use, it is yet unknown to what extent this debate can be applied to non-election times. The aim of our study is threefold. First, we address the debate of normalization on Twitter with a focus on the activity level on Twitter. Second, we classify the politicians based on their activity level in order to investigate to what extent the Twitter use still differs even if a high level of adoption has been reached. Third, we analyse the impact of the traditional media on the Twittersphere during parliamentary and non-parliamentary phases, thus focusing on non-election times. Our results show that even though media attention gives some politicians an advantage online, equalization tendencies are still possible on Twitter if politicians actively use the platform.</jats:p>

The Impact of Social Media Use for Elected Parliamentarians: Evidence from Politicians' Use of Twitter During the Last Two Swiss Legislatures

“…Vaccari & Valeriani, 2015). For instance, Rauchfleisch and Metag (2016) focused on politicians' replies and found that parliamentarians received the greatest number of replies per actor, followed by local politicians, citizens, and journalists. Although there is this growing body of descriptive research about the configuration of politicians' social media networks (Keller, 2020), there is little knowledge of how elected politicians' online interactions have evolved over time.…”

“…These platforms offer them a channel for addressing specific target groups and for communicating about politics (Popa et al, 2020). In particular, Rauchfleisch and Metag (2016) point to Twitter as an important factor in the agenda‐setting process because many journalists source news on Twitter, thus acting as multiplicators for the content emitted by politicians.…”

Bridging the Gap: How Gender Influences Spanish Politicians’ Activity on Twitter

“…As a consequence, politicians' influence is no longer estimated exclusively on the basis of their coverage in traditional media, but also on their popularity on social networks, where follower numbers, shares, retweets and likes are the measure of their success. Politicians' activity on social networks is also considered to be a driver for media attention (Rauchfleisch and Metag 2020;Graham et al 2016). Social media activity is therefore a priority for female politicians, particularly given that research has shown they receive less media attention (Miller and Peake 2013;Baitinger 2015;Tromble and Koole 2020) and more negative coverage (Armstrong and Gao 2011;Ross et al 2013;Larson 2001) than their male counterparts.…”

Level Playing Field or Politics as Usual? Equalization–Normalization in Direct Democratic Online Campaigns

“…The paucity of research on digital technologies and the power distribution among political actors in direct democratic campaigns might be related to the fact that: first, defining the power structure among political actors is more complicated in direct democratic votes than in electoral contexts; and second, referendums and popular initiatives are, compared to elections, relatively rare events in most established democracies. However, even in Switzerland, where citizens are regularly asked to cast their vote on various issues and legislative projects, research on digital technologies and power distribution is limited to electoral competitions (Klinger, 2013), non-electoral periods (Rauchfleisch & Metag, 2020), or both (Rauchfleisch & Metag, 2016). By investigating the effects of digital technologies in the Swiss direct democratic context, this study hopes to add new insights to the equalizationnormalization debate as we draw on a large dataset over an 11-year timespan covering a broad range of direct democratic campaigns.…”