Rocío Zamora Medina

Social Media Use in Crisis Communication Management: An Opportunity for Local Communities?

Social media has changed the way public administrations face their strategic communications, to the point that social media networks are considered even more effective tools for managing a risk or a crisis than traditional media. This chapter reflects on the opportunity Twitter presents for local governments facing critical scenarios, according to the main principles of the theory of Crisis Communication Management. A qualitative analysis from this perspective of how the Madrid city government faced the Madrid Arena tragedy lets us learn from the city government’s main mistakes, allowing us to think about the opportunity that social media presents local communities.

The importance of the ”strategic game” to frame the political discourse in Twitter during 2015 Spanish Regional Elections

There is broad consensus on the idea that Twitter, an online communication tool for campaigning, is significantly impacting the interaction between political candidates and citizens (Parmelee & Bichard, 2011; Enli & Skogerbo, 2013; Kruikemeier et. al., 2013). Despite the importance of the strategic use of framing tweets on followers’ opinions, framing approach research applied to microblogging requires further investigation on national and local contexts. This research explores the extent to which candidates (at a local context) use Twitter as a tool for campaigning, in order to identify main frames that describe the strategic use of Twitter for online campaigning. Following framing scholars suggestions (Dimitrova & Stromback, 2012; Cappella & Jamieson, 1997; Patterson, 1993) and other recent contributions related to the use of framing in Twitter (Parmelee & Bichard, 2012; Zamora & Zurutuza, 2014; Naaman et. al, 2010; Vergeer et. al. 2013), this paper develops a quantitative approach using tweets content analysis to empirically test the strategic use of generic frames made by each…? Findings points to a different priority of each frame by considering that candidates mostly used two generic frames: `Me Now´/selfpromotion and political information source, to seek political engagement. Other generic frames, like media validation and personal frame, where less important. Conclusions show that the use of Twitter for campaigning is still replicating old patterns of broadcast media, instead of social media, based on a one-way communication model.

El empleo de métodos Q para la investigación en comunicación: diseño y evaluación de un estudio comparado a escala europea

This article presents the methodological design of an ongoing research project conducted across Europe about the media consumption as a democratic resource. By means of a combination of in-depth interviews, questionnaires and Q methods, a critical evaluation of the benefits and limitations that these methodological innovations could bring to Communication Research is completed. The dialogue established between teams of thirteen different countries fosters a necessary discussion about the challenges imposed by comparative research at international scale. Moreover, the incorporation of Q methods as a central part of the methodological strategy turns into an opportunity to learn and explore the connections between quantitative and qualitative approaches to Social Sciences. The detailed explanation of the decisions taken by the research team during more than two years are offered as an invitation to public discussion and to the application of these techniques during both the data collection and data analysis phases.