City Research Online

Abstract

The period from 2015 to 2019 has provided a unique moment to study the use of Facebook as a campaigning tool in UK elections. With three general elections in a little more than four years, this study has taken a census of Facebook activity during the campaigns and used content analysis to understand the output of both political parties and party leaders’ feeds. The study takes a longitudinal approach to demonstrate how party digital communication strategies have developed over time. It finds that the parties are using Facebook to speak directly to voters, using a sophisticated range of media to persuade and motivate the electorate. The quantitative data are triangulated with qualitative interviews with political campaigners and leading political journalists to consider the impact of disintermediation on the gatekeeping function of journalism. Conceptually, this study seeks to extend the understanding of disintermediation by arguing that two-step flow models of communication theory might be updated for the social media age by replacing journalists with social media users.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) T Technology > T Technology (General)
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity > Journalism School of Communication & Creativity > School of Communication & Creativity Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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