Redefining and Measuring Discursive Participation Online: The Case of Online Readers’ Comments

Social Media offers many new ways to participate in politics and the formation of public opinion. Citizens use the new communication platforms increasingly for political information and expression. However, uncertainty about the character of this kind of participation remains. Scientific discourse about discursive participation on the internet is strongly influenced by the theory of deliberative democracy. Nonetheless, it is questionable if deliberation represents the most appropriate description of online discursive participation. Because of that, this study addresses the question how these new forms of political participation can be defined instead. Therefore it contrasts the deliberative definition of discursive participation with an innovative approach, individualistic participation. Individualistic participation conceptualizes common participation patterns on the internet not taken up by the deliberative paradigm: monological, competitive or self-expressive behaviour. Hence, this study hypothesizes that citizens participate predominantly individualistically in online forums characterized by a lack of structure and regulation. To test this hypothesis, this study focusses on the case of online readers’ comments directly connected to journalistic articles, because comment functions represent a largely unregulated forum for political expression. I analyse about 800 online readers' comments on four professional news sites in Germany. The study develops and implements a content analysis design that operationalizes the distinguishing criteria of both deliberative and individualistic partici-pation. Preliminary empirical findings suggest two major implications. First, participation patterns intermingle. This study finds deliberative as well as individualistic participation patterns to a relevant degree. Second, it indicates that technical and organizational structures of comment functions correlate to certain forms of participation. This suggests that design could promote certain forms of online political participation. These are meaningful insights for the practice of online discussion forum implementation.