Analysing digital political communication from a network perspective

Abstract

Political communication is increasingly taking place digitally - be it on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, in social forums such as Reddit or on messenger services such as WhatsApp and Telegram. This digital space is increasingly constituted transnationally through the linking of topics and actors as well as through a diverse constellation of actors - from established political actors, to influencers and activists, to ordinary citizens and users. This production of digital political communication requires not only a reformulation of traditional concepts such as the public sphere, campaigning/mobilization, and political participation, but also exploring new grounds and approaches. This panel will therefore primarily explore novel approaches to network research in order to examine digital political communication. The expected novelty is not restricted to methodological aspects but might also refer to hitherto less explored topics such as new digital communication channels on TikTok, unnoticed actor activities for political campaigning in the digital space, new forms of transnationalism via direct or indirect interactions and linkages as well as the temporality of digital political communication. Moreover, the strengths and weaknesses of cross-media, cross-country and cross-lingual cases in digital political communication are investigated. The panel therefore presents a wide array of network research that sheds new light on digital political communication.

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