| Description |
Democratic deliberation has been studied in various diverse environments, however, scholars have yet to examine its characteristics when conducted on political campaigns' social network sites. The present study sought to fill this gap by exploring the contextual issues that shape campaigns' and citizens' deliberative experiences on this interactive digital venue. A phenomenological theoretical approach was used to frame this research and to craft the research design that involved analysis of data collected from two sources: multimedia text published on social network sites and interviews with individuals involved with the operation of political campaigns' social network site. Analysis of these two sources reveals that citizens participate in deliberative discourse using various strategies that are distinct to social network site technology. Specifically deliberators presented hyperlinks, personal identities, ideological beliefs, and facts about candidates' past experiences to support their opinions. Additionally, citizens developed their arguments by drawing on content that was disseminated by political campaigns, other deliberators, and media advertisements. Results also describe characteristics concerning the relationship between political campaigns and the democratic deliberation engaged on their social network sites. It was concluded that campaigns influence the nature of deliberation through the strategic operation of their social network sites. Additionally, while campaigns in the present study did not use citizen deliberation to influence policy making, campaigns widely agreed that this iv discourse was valuable and should be used more broadly to influence the larger political arena. Based on the major findings that emerged, this empirical research argues that political campaign social network sites cultivate valuable deliberative discourse that can be used to inform formal governing procedures and subsequently influence broader democratic processes. |
