Hallvard Moe

Studying political microblogging: Twitter users in the 2010 Swedish election campaign:

Among the many so-called microblogging services that allow their users to describe their current status in short posts, Twitter is probably among the most popular and well known. Since its launch in 2006, Twitter use has evolved and is increasingly used in a variety of contexts. This article utilizes emerging online tools and presents a rationale for data collection and analysis of Twitter users. The suggested approach is exemplified with a case study: Twitter use during the 2010 Swedish election. Although many of the initial hopes for e-democracy appear to have gone largely unfulfilled, the successful employment of the internet during the 2008 US presidential campaign has again raised voices claiming that the internet, and particularly social media applications like Twitter, provides interesting opportunities for online campaigning and deliberation. Besides providing an overarching analysis of how Twitter use was fashioned during the 2010 Swedish election campaign, this study identifies different user types based on how high-end users utilized the Twitter service. By suggesting a novel approach to the study of microblogging and by identifying user types, this study contributes to the burgeoning field of microblog research and gives specific insights into the practice of civic microblogging.

Dissemination and dialogue in the public sphere: a case for public service media online

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Habermas, Mouffe and political communication. A case for theoretical eclecticism.

Abstract Much of the research on communication and democracy continues to lean on Jürgen Habermas’s work. However, many aspects of his approach have been intensely criticised in recent debates, both in communication studies and political theory. Habermas’s emphasis on rational consensus as the aim of public communication has particularly been problematised. One of the most prominent critics, Chantal Mouffe and her agonistic model of democracy, have increasingly drawn the interest of media scholars. Mouffe explicitly contrasts the dominant Habermasian concept of the public sphere, and it appears that her model is impossible to combine with the Habermasian approach. But how substantial are the differences? What are the disagreements centred on? And what are their consequences for empirical media and communication research? In this article we argue that rather than accepting the standard readings or polar positions accredited to the two, we need to retain a certain “theoretical eclecticism” in combining normative theories with empirical research. Despite their controversies, we argue that both Habermas’s and Mouffe’s theories have value as critical perspectives that help us reflect on the ideals of democratic public communication.

Triumph of the underdogs? Comparing Twitter use by political actors during two Norwegian election campaigns

Social media are often discussed in terms of online novelties. However, especially within the broader field of political communication, the uses of such services, as Twitter, at the hands of political actors such as politicians and the parties to which they belong, have become something of a fixture of research in recent years. Although the study of political Twitter use has provided a series of insightful case studies, often focused on one single election or country, this article presents a comparative study looking at Twitter use at the hands of political actors during two Norwegian elections, 2011 and 2013. We are interested in what overarching tendencies can be discerned from these uses—specifically, if differing usages can be found between the two elections, suggesting developments pertaining to the normalization and equalization hypotheses respectively. This is examined by focusing on two main analytical areas: The level and type of activity undertaken by those up for election, and the repercussions that this activity appears to have in terms of popularity on the studied platform. In short, the results suggest that although Twitter largely remains an “elite” medium in the Norwegian context, smaller political and other actors are making use of the platform at hand to higher degrees than their more well-known peers. Tendencies of both hypotheses are traced in the data, and although the findings could signal an opening for “outsiders” in this regard, the sheer amount of traffic driving the tweets sent by high-end politicians suggest otherwise.

Representation or Participation

Abstract The uses of the popular microblogging service Twitter for political purposes have been discussed by scholars and political pundits alike. While suggestions have been made that the conversational aspects of the microblog could serve to instigate online deliberation between equals, rather few studies have investigated such claims empirically. This paper presents such an empirical study, based on a large-scale data set of tweets concerning the 2011 Danish parliamentary election. By combining state-of-the-art data collection and analysis techniques with theoretically informed matters for discussion, we provide an assessment of political Twitter activity among high-end users of the microblog during a one-month period leading up to the election. Identifying a series of user types, fi ndings indicate that while the bulk of the studied activity bares characteristics of a representative public sphere, traces of a participatory public sphere were also discerned.

Mapping the Norwegian Blogosphere: Methodological Challenges in Internationalizing Internet Research

Even as the blog has become an established genre of computer-mediated communication, questions remain about how different blogs are from mass media, and what the transformative potential of blogging is. This article argues for the need for further explorations, especially outside the Anglo-American blogosphere. The article discusses key challenges in light of an ongoing research project aiming to gain insight into how blogging in Norway—a small democratic nation state with a correspondingly small language area—compares to other cases and to assess how online media participation matters for the structure of the public sphere. On this basis, the article presents preliminary findings from a mapping of the Norwegian blogosphere.

UNTANGLING A COMPLEX MEDIA SYSTEM

This article provides empirical insights into how one online service – Twitter – was used for political purposes during three separate election campaigns in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, specifically how Twitter users, with hyperlinks, connect with other channels for political communication. Methodologically, the study employs three large sets of data on Twitter use tagged as relevant for each of the election campaigns, covering a one-month period. The approach allows for an untangling of the complex interconnections between novel online services, mainstream media, official political party websites, public information, individual blogs and social network sites. By moving beyond a study merely of the type of websites linked to, to also include classification of the actors publishing the content linked to, the article provides insights into the actual use by politicians, interest groups as well as grassroots activists of diverse Web genres.

Methodological and Ethical Challenges Associated with Large-scale Analyses of Online Political Communication

Emerging online arenas offer new possibilities for the study of online communication aided by computer-assisted methods of data collection. However, these possibilities also entail certain challenges. As online data collection such as “scraping” of web content becomes part of the methodological repertoire of non-technically inclined researchers, and as the data available for researchers to place under scrutiny grows ever more plentiful, we point to two challenges that need to be tackled if we are to grasp current developments. How can we make sense of the massive amounts of novel forms of mediated communication, and how can we approach them in an ethically sound manner? While all branches of media and communication research face these challenges, we are specifically interested in discussing them in relation to the broad field of political communication. Political communication research tries to understand and explain all forms of “purposeful communication about politics” (McNair 2003: 23). To do so, researchers have sampled newspaper articles, studied a selection of television broadcasts, analysed documentaries, or listened in on specific radio programmes. In the age of the mass media, these were perfectly legitimate approaches – and they still are. Yet political communication research has had to expand its arsenal of approaches. During the roughly 15 years that have passed since the Web emerged as a mainstream platform for mediated communication, researchers have tried to grasp its effect on political communication. The majority of such work, however, notably relies on traditional methodological approaches. If we wish to properly understand online political communication, we need to explore novel possibilities. To assess the importance of blog posts, twitter messages and other so-called social media outlets as platforms for political expression, to take one pertinent example, we first need to get an overview of the different types of these mediated forms of expression in our polity. This does not only entail intricate definitional delimitations, but also a some what daunting methodological task. Those trying to get an overview of the online communication during the latest Swedish election, for instance, would find a lot of material – too much even to get a perspective on, perhaps. The number of messages or utterances users of one not very widespread service (Twitter) themselves labelled #val2010” (“election2010”) amounted to over 100,000 during a one-month period leading up to the election. Still, empirical endeavours based on such data constitute necessary steps on the way forward for political communication research. And they clearly entail some challenges.

The Media Welfare State: Nordic Media in the Digital Era

The approach of this book holds great promise, but delivers a short, idealized general description of Nordic media and brief identification of some fundamental policy commonalities across the region. Nordic nations have long intervened in media markets, first in broadcasting, through the establishment of public service broadcasting monopolies in the 1920s and 30s, and then in newspapers, through establishment of the most significant subsidy systems in the world during the last part of the twentieth century. The decisions to do so were driven by the unique geographies, small populations, political systems and cultures of the nations. This book contends that Nordic media systems thus differ from those in other parts of the world and are unique cases, but it makes no comparisons to demonstrate that. The book provides a brief discussion of concepts of the welfare state and how they apply in the Nordic region. It considers the extent of media use in the region, providing brief overviews of the press and state subsidies for it, of public service broadcasters and the rationales for them, and major private media companies and their performance. The brief historical and developmental descriptions, statistical information, and descriptions of how they are adjusting to the digital age are useful for those unacquainted with Nordic media. The book fails to live up to the promise of its main title, however. The title would lead one to expect a serious discussion of the Nordic media welfare state, the effects of neoliberal policies on the media systems over the past 25 years, the significant domestic debates over the extent to which welfare policy apparatuses should continue, and the declining effectiveness of the existing policies. Such in-depth discussion and debate

PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS ON THE WEB: A large-scale content analysis of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's online news

This article provides an empirical basis for discussions of public service news on the Web. Through innovative use of computer-assisted data gathering and structuring, and a combination of quantitative methods, we present the results from a large-scale analysis of the online news content of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK. The study reveals not only specifics of the online news genre, but also the dual role of NRK as a public service broadcaster. nrk.no fulfils regional content provisions by having a heavy local news focus on the websites “inside”. Simultaneously, its front page profile suggests NRK operates in direct competition with commercial national online news actors. The article offers new insights into the nature of online news as offered by a large, traditional media institution. These insights are key to any discussion of online journalism, as well as the future of public service broadcasting. Furthermore, through the employment of innovative computer-assisted data collection and structuring, the article aims to contribute to the development of the methodological arsenal of journalism studies.