Skip to Main Content

Tweeting to Power: The Social Media Revolution in American Politics

Online ISBN:
9780199350476
Print ISBN:
9780199965076
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Tweeting to Power: The Social Media Revolution in American Politics

Jason Gainous,
Jason Gainous

Associate Professor of Political Science

University of Louisville
Find on
Kevin M. Wagner
Kevin M. Wagner

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Florida Atlantic University
Find on
Published online:
23 January 2014
Published in print:
30 December 2013
Online ISBN:
9780199350476
Print ISBN:
9780199965076
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Using theory and data from leading online social media, Gainous and Wagner illustrate how platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are bypassing traditional media and creating a new forum for the exchange of political information and campaigning. Beginning with a strong theoretical foundation grounded in political, communications, and psychology literature, this book examines the effect of online social media on how people come to learn, understand, and engage in politics. By lowering the cost of both supplying the information and obtaining it, social networking applications have recreated how, when, and where people are informed. The authors illustrate how political actors utilized these Internet networks to control the flow of information and win elections. These new and growing online communities are a new forum for the exchange of information that is governed by relationships formed and maintained outside traditional media. With an approach grounded in both social science theory and empirical data, Gainous and Wagner show how the online social media revolution is creating a new paradigm for political communication and shifting the very foundation of the political process.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close