Social media changed the political dialogue in ways still being understood. In 2016, Twitter became a major tool for political media that caused controversy across the political spectrum. With accusations of treason, fraud, and corruption, social media became a new battleground where millions could join the political debate. As a result of the growth of online political communities, the rise of the online political star grew. One such star, Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), surprised everyone with her win over the incumbent. Her win was partially attributed to Ocasio-Cortez’s 4 million Twitter followers. In the reverberation of the 2018 midterm election, questions arise about how representatives are using these massive followings outside of an election cycle. By examining the social media timelines of the 434 members of the House of Representatives from January 1, 2019 to March 20, 2019, this project examines patterns of rhetoric and behavior to try to answer the question, how are politicians using social media?
Having a social media platform can be a great way to speak with constituents and spread messages of concern or success, but the excessive exposure invites excessive ridicule. Representatives, Rick Crawford (R) and Steve Womack (R) have come out against social media for its tendency to lead to bullying and the spread of “fake news.” By combing through every representative’s website for their promoted social media, the data visual above demonstrates a subtle pattern of use. The graph shows how many representatives choose to join the Facebook and Twitter platforms. The data demonstrates that more representatives value Twitter than Facebook. Four representatives choose not to have a Facebook, while only two elect out of Twitter. The data suggest that Republicans are less likely to maintain a social media presence, leading to new questions about the long term impact the absence of a social media following can have on the election process and the dialogue between representative and represented.
In the old adage “it’s all about location,” some politicians fail miserably. Social media can be hidden and hard to find within the representative’s website. While on the other end of the spectrum, many representatives choose to encourage their social media following with popups and central location. The map shown represents the culmination of research by displaying each representative’s social media handle for future conversation and research. Hover over the districts to view each representative’s information.
In the three months observed, politicians as a whole posted 35,893 Facebook posts and 84,142 Tweets. By averaging the the type of material posted with the total number of post per political party, the graph shows a ratio of the types of material posted by political party. As the graph shows, the ratio between the parties is extremely similar with the only major difference shown in how the party members respond to messages. A higher percentage of Republican messages are dedicated to responding to others, while Democrats are more likely to post links and videos. This represents a large issue in terms of the perceived usefulness of social media as a tool for dialogue between the politicians and citizens. Hover over the graph to see how many post for each type of media was posted
The most followed House of Representative member, Nancy Pelosi, leads the Democratic pattern of maintaining strong follower counts on Twitter.
If power is derived from the people, the Democrats currently have twice as many people listening.
Republicans posted an average of 84 times over the three month period. Democrats posted an average of 82 times. That is an average of just over 1 post a day for both parties to keep a constant stream of content available to their followers.
Popular post is a debatable term. Is a post popular based on likes which may demonstrate support? Is a post popular based on retweets that show the spread of the idea? For the graphs bellow, popularity is defined by favorite or like count. Based on this metric, Democrats and their larger following push posts into the highest numbers. Often the most popular posts come from the most followed representative.
Word frequency graphs cannot tell us the intent on connotation, but they can demonstrate themes of importance and focus. By examining the frequency of over 1.3 million individual words used in the timelines of the House of Representatives politicians, we see a focus appear in the top 100 words. In examining word frequency, stop words (e.g. the, a, or this), and phases associated with hyperlinks were removed. Predictably, President Trump, was a hot topic. As were guns, the wall, workers, and health. Perhaps not surprising, but still slightly unexpected is how reflective representatives seem to be. The most frequent words used include house, Congress, people, and act. These top words suggest that the biggest point of discussion amongst our political leaders is the very act of governance.
Government is fluid, and social media is constantly growing in new ways. The combination of these two facts lead to ambiguity. The responsibility to understand intent and focus will continue to fall on the citizen. Data provides an opportunity to better understand the world around us, but data from social media do not provide clear cut answers. Yet, there can be some solid takeaways from this dataset. Democrats tend to have larger social media followings which help their posts reach larger audiences. Republicans spend 2% more of their online space responding to others compared to their Democrat counterpart. Both parties strive to provide consistent content and maintain their media presence. But data is meant to be interpreted. Within the data, stories of hope and fear show the stakes at play in the political realm. So, what story do you see?
