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

SNS and the public sphere

the two entry points: social news sites accommodate discussion, and they also set – at least their own – agenda.

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

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

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...)

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

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

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”?

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

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%)

And now...

...something completely different.

Primary, secondary sources

348 articles

How many primary sources?

note that 1 submitted (secondary) source might use several primary sources

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. %)

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.

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

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?

Thank you.

Project for Excellence in Journalism: http://www.journalism.orghttp://www.journalism.org

Reach me at: andras.szabo@student.uwasa.fi http://raatali.wordpress.com