Modeling the formation of attentive publics in social media: the case of Donald Trump

Previous research has shown the importance of Donald Trump’s Twitter activity, and that of his Twitter following, in spreading his message during the primary and general election campaigns of 2015–2016. However, we know little about how the publics who followed Trump and amplified his messages took shape. We take this case as an opportunity to theorize and test questions about the assembly of what we call “attentive publics” in social media. We situate our study in the context of current discussions of audience formation, attention flow, and hybridity in the United States’ political media system. From this we derive propositions concerning how attentive publics aggregate around a particular object, in this case Trump himself, which we test using time series modeling. We also present an exploration of the possible role of automated accounts in these processes. Our results reiterate the media hybridity described by others, while emphasizing the importance of news media coverage in building social media attentive publics.Accepted manuscrip

Moving to Digital-Healthy Society: Empathy, Sympathy, and Wellbeing in Social Media

Background: This research aims to explore the impact of individuals’ demographics and their social media use on empathy, sympathy, and wellbeing in Saudi Arabia. This paper can fill an untapped gap in a developing country (i.e., the Arab context) by shedding light on sympathetic and empathetic behavior and its effect on wellbeing in social media. Method: We manage to obtain a sample of 431 responses across all Saudi regions. Data were analyzed to evaluate reliability and validity of the study’s constructs while the hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Results: SEM regression results suggest that there is a significant relationship between both age and income and social media use. In addition, social media use has an indirect relationship to individuals’ wellbeing. This indirect relationship is better manifested through sympathy rather than empathy. Conclusion: Theoretically, this study furthers our understanding of the role of empathy and sympathy on wellbeing in social media among Saudis, whereas practically provides insights to industry experts about what matters to social media users to increase their wellbeing

Thou art in a deal: the evolution of religious language in the public communications of Donald Trump

When Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, his candidacy was far from embraced by the Religious Right. Yet, on election night, many of that same constituency turned out in overwhelming support: Trump gained a higher percentage of the White Evangelical vote than any prior nominee. Two years into his presidency, they remained his most loyal supporters. Using content analysis of 175 Trump rally speeches during the 2016 campaign and since becoming president and an archive of 30,000 tweets from Trump, this research finds evidence to solve a part of this puzzle. Trump appears to use his public communications as opportunities to alleviate the likely cognitive dissonance felt by these supporters, using religious language and explicit mentions of (the Christian) God in both tweets and speeches, helping to afford a biblically consonant interpretation of his presidency. He also proximates Christian religious language with concepts of Americanness, while proximating Islam almost exclusively with terrorism, perhaps linguistically delivering on promises of a Christian nation(alism)

O marketing político na era digital: estudo no contexto português

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral investigar o envolvimento dos jovens com a política nas redes sociais e análisar a utilização das redes sociais pelos principais partidos/candidatos políticos nas eleições legislativas Portuguesas de 2019 e a sua potencial eficácia nas campanhas políticas. Para este efeito foram realizados dois estudos empíricos, do lado dos jovens eleitores portuguesess e do lado dos partidos políticos. Para o estudo empírico I, foi adotada uma metodologia quantitativa, por via da aplicação de um questionário a uma amostra constituída por 120 jovens portugueses dos 18 aos 35 anos e a posterior análise por SPSS (versão 25). Para o estudo empírico II que incidiu na análise do uso e eficácia das redes sociais por parte dos principais partidos/candidatos políticos nas campanhas para as legislativas de 2019, foi utilizada uma metodologia mista (quantitativa e qualitativa). Os resultados desta dissertação mostram que os jovens portugueses tem interesse por política, mas não são tão participativos com a política nas redes socias. Por outro lado, os partidos e políticos analisados são muito activos nas redes socias, tendo campanhas bastante eficazes ao nível de seguidores e de potenciais votantes.This dissertation aims to investigate the involvement of young people with politics in social networks and analyze the use of social networks by the main political parties / candidates in the 2019 Portuguese legislative elections and their potential effectiveness in political campaigns. For this purpose, two empirical studies were carried out, on the side of young Portuguese voters and on the side of political parties. For the empirical study I, a quantitative methodology was adopted through the application of a questionnaire, to a sample made up of 120 young portuguese from 18 to 35 years old and the subsequent analysis by SPSS (version 25). For the empirical study II, which focused on the analysis of the use and effectiveness of social networks by the main political parties / candidates in campaigns for 2019 legislatures, a mixed methodology (quantitative and qualitative) was used. The results of this dissertation show that young Portuguese people are interested in politics, but are not as participative with politics in social networks. On the other hand, the parties and politicians analyzed are very active in social networks, having very effective campaigns at the level of followers and potential voters.Mestrado em Marketin

Too Feminine for Execution?: Gender Stereotypes and the Media’s Portrayal of Women Sentenced to Death

Traditional gender norms prescribing women as more nurturing and less aggressive than men have led to both the reluctance to view women as capable of violence, as well as a greater willingness to execute men than women in the United States. To make sense of the instances where women are sentenced to death, the media often pathologizes and/or demonizes them. Scholars have found that demonizing and dehumanizing those executed is a necessity to the implementation of capital punishment, both in cases of male and female defendants. To better understand how the news media have framed the gender and racial narratives around women who have been sentenced to death, this study examined newspaper articles written about women sentenced to death in the United States from 1976 to 2020. Using both deductive and inductive coding methods, this study employed a qualitative content analysis to examine news articles about women sentenced to death in the United States since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976. The findings revealed the use of gender stereotypes, including four key subthemes: (1) victim as offender, (2) good woman pushed, (3) violating sexual norms, and (4) villainous. Newspapers perpetuated gendered expectations of women through implicit and explicit use of stereotypes and controlling images when describing women sentenced to death but were less likely to draw upon racial stereotypes. White women were also vilified more often than women of Color. The implications of these findings are discussed