Future Prospects

Question 1

What is the internet/2SF relationship?

Answer 1

Opinion leaders, (having fallen out of fashion), are re-emerging on twitter etc

Question 2

What is the normative assessment of the internet/2SF relationship?

Answer 2

• Opinion leadership isn’t ‘bad’
• Opinions leaders don’t (always) skew ‘objective’ information
• They help to curate almost limitless information
• But it does have a polarising effect (reinforcing, or casual?)
• We call this phenomenon ‘homophily’ - form groups of people like us
• Research suggests online opinion leaders resemble offline opinion leaders - no emancipation yet
  
  • i.e. Traditional media still as gatekeepers, agenda setters (legacy credibility)

Question 3

What is the internet/U&G relation?

Answer 3

• Uses and gratifications have changed significantly as media has evolved
• Could the overlap in gratifications be a result of using gratifications measures designed for older media and therefore not reflective of the new gratifications potentially obtained from newer media?
• Implications
  
  • If gratifications are changing, does the theory still stand?

Question 4

What are the new theories?

Answer 4

• U&G may not be relevant in the internet age, but two-step flow and agenda setting are perhaps more important now
• Internet ‘specific’ theories
  
  • Logic of connective action
  • Selective exposure
  • Reinforcement/mobilisation

Question 5

What is the logic of connective action?

Answer 5

• The internet has a general ‘collective action problem’
• i.e. lots of people have ideas, concerns, wants to act… but they are disparate and hard to corral
• e.g. ‘March for Science’ - lots of participants, little agreement on goals
• Big online movements involve two types of logic
• Elements of ‘personalised communications’

Question 6

What are the logics of connective action?

Answer 6

• Collective action: high levels of organisational resources and the formation of collective identities
• Connective action: personalised content sharing across media networks

Question 7

What are the elements of personalised communications?

Answer 7

• 1. Political content in the form of easily personalised ideas: personalised frames = less likely to engage in Coll Act unless there is a personal action frame inclusive of different personal reasons for action
     - Personalised action frames work the same way as traditional media frames, but they allow individuals to frame their participation in some collective action in their own way
     - So disparate individuals can work together to achieve even vague ends
• 2. Sharing themes

Question 8

What is selective exposure and its effect?

Answer 8

• Internet doesn’t necessarily increase selective exposure
• We rely on heuristics to sort the information we desire
• Normative implications unclear
• Effects on polarisation
  
  • Unclear relationship between media selection and learning to be more politically polarised
  • Recent research suggests that older people are the most polarised, and they tent to watch cable news more than use the internet

Question 9

What is reinforcemnt/mobilisaiton?

Answer 9

• Similar to selective exposure
• Similar chicken/egg
• Does the internet mobilise otherwise disengaged citizens into engagement?
• Or does it mobilise people who would be engaged otherwise?
• i.e. those who are already ‘information/engagement privileged’ are caught in ‘virtuous cycle’, those who are disengaged are ot