Social network sites: an innovative form of political communication? A socio-technical approach to media innovation

Abstract

This article’s objective is to explore the interrelations between social media technology and users in order to assess whether and how actors drive innovation. I am interested in understanding how social media technology configure users, how users reconfigure technologies to meet their needs and what users do with social media technology. The mainstream perspective on politicians who use social media has been based on the premise that social media technology is, by nature, an innovative tool and that politicians are not using it to its full potential. However I argue that technology is not innovative by nature and further that emerging practices are actually accompanying the use of social media by political actors but that those practices are related to the collaborative production of speech and rearrangement of editorial rules in political communication. Thus the bulk of the paper is devoted to showing that, through the use of social media technology, media and political communication are converging. The article builds upon examples from the use of social media technology by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). I provide empirical insights into how Members of the European Parliament and their staff adapt to social media technology while using it in a creative way and how uses contribute to changes in the technology itself. This article is empirically grounded and aims at providing examples to highlight the role of actors in defining and developing innovation in the field of media technology. The argument of the paper is that innovation in media technology takes place at the level of practices. Yet new and old practices are interfering as more established practices meet social media technology, challenging the notion of newness and pointing out to the role and influence of the institutional context on innovation. This article finally outlines some of the existing claims made for the innovative potential of social media regarding politics and lays out a number of issues and questions that should lead us to be wary about celebratory accounts.

Mellem kontrol og afmagt: Ændrede relationer mellem politikere og journalister i en ny medieøkologi

“…Avisernes brug af politikeres udtalelser på sociale netvaerkssider er et nyligt opstået faenomen, hvorfor litteraturen herom også er forholdsvis begraenset. Tidligere studier har indikeret, at politikere bevidst anvender sociale netvaerkssider i løbet af valgkampe for at opnå medieomtale (Skovsgaard & van Dalen 2013;Broersma & Graham 2012;Roginsky 2014). Det er dog endnu uvist, hvorvidt denne strategiske brug også fi nder sted uden for den intense valgkamp.…”

Faire campagne sur twitter. Modalités d’énonciation et mises en récit des candidats à l’élection européenne

“…Il n'y a rien de surprenant à ce que des professionnels du lobbying et de la communication mettent en avant l'importance que prennent pour eux les plateformes de réseaux sociaux. Ce qui l'est peut-être davantage est de retrouver ce type de discours dans le champ de la recherche scientifique (Roginsky, 2014). Il est ainsi courant de lire que les plateformes de réseaux sociaux bouleversent, ou sont en capacité de bouleverser, l'espace public en favorisant la participation de tout à chacun et l'interaction entre les élites politiques et les citoyens (Graham et al, 2014 ;Hermans & Vergeer, 2012;Lilleker & Malagón, 2010).…”