Conclusion: Message Control at the Margins

In the introduction, we identified four key themes that would guide the series of independent yet intersecting analyses that would follow. As those themes were explored and answers were provided to the questions being asked, a series of lessons for operating in the social-media-driven political environment emerged. These lessons shape the larger conclusions that can be derived from the collective efforts of the analyses herein

Introduction: Controlling the Message in the Social Media Marketplace of Ideas

The presidential candidate\u27s campaign faced the threat of being derailed following a scathing depiction of him posted by an individual citizen. Regardless of whether the claims made against the candidate were truthful, the message already had gone viral, and the candidate\u27s campaign flailed in its efforts to respond. Finally, one of the candidate\u27s supporters not affiliated with his campaign repackaged the critic\u27s depiction into a new theme, one that resonated positively with voters. The repackaged message itself continued well beyond its original posting as it was replicated in different forums time and time again

Controlling the Message: New Media in American Political Campaigns

From the presidential race to the battle for the office of New York City mayor, American political candidates\u27 approach to new media strategy is increasingly what makes or breaks their campaigns. Targeted outreach on Facebook and Twitter, placement of a well-timed viral ad, and the ability to roll with the memes, flame wars, and downvotes that might spring from ordinary citizens\u27 engagement with the issues—these skills are heralded as crucial for anyone hoping to get their views heard in a chaotic election cycle. But just how effective are the kinds of media strategies that American politicians employ? And what effect, if any, do citizen-created political media have on the tide of public opinion? In Controlling the Message, Farrar-Myers and Vaughn curate a series of case studies that use real-time original research from the 2012 election season to explore how politicians and ordinary citizens use and consume new media during political campaigns. Broken down into sections that examine new media strategy from the highest echelons of campaign management all the way down to passive citizen engagement with campaign issues in places like online comment forums, the book ultimately reveals that political messaging in today\u27s diverse new media landscape is a fragile, unpredictable, and sometimes futile process. This collection both interprets important historical data from a watershed campaign season and also explains myriad approaches to political campaign media scholarship—an ideal volume for students, scholars, and political analysts alike.https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/fac_books/1422/thumbnail.jp