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Social networking sites and the public sphere
The US presidential election campaign on Digg, Reddit, Newsvine and
Propeller.
András SzabóTampere, 18.4.2008
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Social news sites?
community of editors, free of direct influence (in theory)
filters or aggregators of content
news and discussion
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SNS and the public sphere
the two entry points: social news sites accommodate discussion, and they also set – at least their own – agenda.
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The strength of SNS
discussions that matter the democratic principle
as opposed to blogs, discussion forums
common ground (with credibility issues) an advocacy domain of media (Dahlgren)
cf. the strange economy of the internet
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The overall research plan
3-pronged approach: content analysis of social news sites
narratives, agenda-setting, sources, practicalities critical discourse analysis of social news sites and
blogs critical discourse analysis of discussion forums
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Digg, Reddit
Digg 25 million unique visitors /
month (of which 15 m from US)
private company (Digg, Inc.)
Reddit 2.5 million unique visitors /
month (1.7 m from US)
owned by Condé Nast (Wired, The New Yorker, GQ, Vogue...)
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Newsvine, Propeller
Newsvine 1 million unique visitors /
month (840 thousand from US)
owned by MSNBC, a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft
Propeller 6 million unique visitors /
month (3.7 million from US)
owned by AOL LLC, belongs to the Time-Warner media conglomerate
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Samples and elections
sampling principles: daily and weekly from “politics” or
“elections” category aim: the 4 most
popular (relevant) news items from each site, every day
Why the elections? important widely covered fixed + variable
elements large enough to
include a variety of themes but small enough to remain comparable
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My questions
Agenda-setting How important is the campaign? (public agenda) Can it influence the agenda of MSM? (agenda building)
Narratives What is covered in the news, and how does it differ
from that of MSM? Sources
How many and what kind of sources do SNS use? Practicalities
How fast are sns, and what is their “added value”?
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Base of comparison
The PEJ (Project for Excellence in Journalism) News Coverage Index
network TV, newspapers, online news sites (but no blogs or social news sites), radio, cable news
subsets: campaign coverage index, talkshow index
One question: what is being covered in the news media?
http://www.journalism.org
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Elections? What elections?
Newsvine, week 11
Other news (65%)
Election news (35%)
Other news (73%)
Election news (27%)
Campaign Coverage Index, week 11
PEJ 2008 (http://www.journalism.org)
Reddit, week 11
Other news (89%)
Election news (11%)
Digg, week 11
Other news (89%)
Election news (11%)
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And now...
...something completely different.
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Primary, secondary sources
348 articles
How many primary sources?
note that 1 submitted (secondary) source might use several primary sources
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Primary sources
4 weeks, 348 news items
150 (133) different primary sources
Digg Reddit Newsvine Propeller Total %AP 6 6 8 16 36 10,3NBC / MSNBC 10 2 4 8 24 6,9The New York Times 6 5 5 8 24 6,9CNN 12 4 2 4 22 6,3The Washington Post 8 3 3 7 21 6,0p.i. 1 6 10 1 18 5,2The Huffington Post 9 3 1 4 17 4,9abc news 3 1 4 3 11 3,2Fox News 2 1 1 5 9 2,6Politico 3 4 1 1 9 2,6The Daily Kos, HRC campaign office, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune 7 each 2,0 each
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Secondary sources
4 weeks, 348 news items
152 (114) different sec. sources – about 2.2 item / source
Digg Reddit Newsvine Propeller Total %p. i. 11 12 14 2 39 11,2The Daily Kos 13 3 2 1 19 5,5Yahoo! News 2 1 15 18 5,2The Huffington Post 13 3 1 17 4,9The Washington Post 4 2 3 6 15 4,3AP 1 13 14 4,0The New York Times 2 2 4 5 13 3,7CNN 4 3 1 3 11 3,2NBC / MSNBC 3 2 5 11 3,2Politico 5 1 1 1 8 2,3abc news 2 1 2 3 8 2,3The Chicago Tribune, The Nation.com, Salon.com 6 each 1,7 each
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Sources – summary
largely diverse, fragmented pool of both primary and secondary sources
including: The Rolling Stone, HBO, radio shows and Wikipedia
the role of independent private individuals compares to that of the most influential sources
though: is this really news production? (news vs opinion)
no conclusive evidence of ownership influence on the use of sources
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Quickness
“afternoon edition”? delayed, but expanded content
convenient archives
Digg Reddit Newsvine PropellerVotes (avg.) for popularity 1784,16 506,74 39,97 47,57Time difference (days, avg.) 0,9 1,11 0,98 0,68Time difference (days, mode) 1 0 0 0Items older than a month 3 8 2 0Number of comments (avg.) 311 114 102* 40
*: estimate
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The narratives – week 8 (18th - 24th February)
Obama continues winning streak (Hawaii, Wisconsin), McCain explains lobby ties
prominent only on social news sites: Ralph Nader, BO vs HRC senate record
Obama Clinton McCain
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Media exposure by person(% of items)
Significant presence
Main newsmaker
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The narratives – week 9 (25th Feb - 2nd March)
Obama under closer scrutiny, McCain starts to disappear
prominent only in MSM: Clinton's experience, Mike Huckabee
MSM picks up on Nader, senate record comparison
prominent only on SNS: Antoin Rezko Obama Clinton McCain
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Media exposure by person(in % of stories)
Significant presence
Main newsmaker
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The narratives – week 10 (3rd - 9th March)
Clinton makes comeback (Texas, Ohio), Democrats' deadlock?
MSM picks up on Rezko case
social news sites pick up on Clinton's experience
Obama Clinton McCain
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Media exposure by person(in % of stories)
Significant presence
Main newsmaker
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The narratives – week 11 (10th - 16th March)
a narrative of racial tension: Wright, Ferraro
prominent only on – some - SNS: John Hagee (reaction); Clinton's experience
overshadowing the campaign in MSM: the Spitzer-scandal
Obama Clinton McCain
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Media exposure by person(in % of stories)
Significant presence
Main newsmaker
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Media exposure by party
average difference: 2.66 percentage points
“other” parties: 2.28% vs 3.06%
questioning the narrative altogether: 3 stories on social news sites (0.86% of the newswhole)
Democrats
Republicans
Mixed
Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Exposure in established media(weeks 8 - 11)
Exposure (avg. %)
Democrats
Republicans
Mixed
Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Exposure on social news sites(weeks 8 - 11)
Exposure (avg. %)
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Narratives and agenda setting
largely corresponding agendas (within the topic of the 2008 campaign)
(though further analysis needed to study the effects of fragmentation)
however, social news sites have the potential to overtake the conventional media:
the “Grassrootsmom”-file, Ralph Nader, the Rezko-case
Is there a causal relationship? There might be.
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Summary
social news sites use a large variety of sources – a main contributor to healthy “advocacy media”
the role of independent private individuals is important (both as primary and as secondary source) – civic journalism is treated equally
social news sites are quick they largely mirror the agenda of the
mainstream media – but also show potential to (at least) influence it
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What's missing?
Framing – the qualities of representation. How are issues presented, what are the underlying ideologies? Bias / objectivity of the sites?
What's the context of the practice of using a social news site? Do they complement or strive to substitute traditional media organs?
Analysis of discussion. Critical argument vs shouting abuse?
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Thank you.
Project for Excellence in Journalism: http://www.journalism.orghttp://www.journalism.org
Reach me at: [email protected] http://raatali.wordpress.com