The new opinion leader? Personal influence and political networks

in a hybrid media environment.July 23, 2013

Elizabeth DuboisDPhil (PhD) Information, Communication, and the Social Sciences, CandidateUniversity of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute

www.elizabethdubois.ca | Twitter: @lizdubois

The New Politician

Lead government, policy decisions

Appeal to voters via mass media, campaigns, social media, personal media

Announcements via Twitter

The New Journalist

Constant communication, real-time reporting

Many types of “journalist”

The New Activist

Intensity of engagement

Flexibility New tactics in

their repertoire

The New Opinion Leader?

Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) Mass communication and

group dynamics Counter “direct media effects”

“Opinion leader” Higher media consumption Social pressure/support Otherwise average

Media Studies Perspective

Mass media environment

Hybrid media environment

Current Research

DPhil (PhD) candidate Strategies of digitally enabled opinion

leadership American Behavioural Scientist and Social Media

and Society conference Identifying influentials on Twitter

Research Questions

How do digitally enabled opinion leaders exert influence?

Access to social media (Twitter)

Do individuals influence in the same way across media settings? (e.g. online vs. offline, blogs vs. Facebook)

Personal influence, personal social network Change attitudes, opinions, or behaviours

Hypothesis:

Methods

20 mini individual-centred case studies “360 view” Process tracing

Sequential mixed-methods Interviews (individual and followers) Social network analysis (SNA) Media content analysis (global and personal)

Sampling

#CDNpoli (Twitter hashtag community) ABS and SMSoc papers validate selection Randomize list of all opinion leaders, select first 20

Next Steps

Complete survey, compare to other metrics Pilot case study approach with digital and non-

digital prompts Consider technical aspects/areas for advancement

Thank you

Theory: Beyond the Two-Step Flow

Terms

Influence

Personal influence

Methods

1. Identify interviewees and pre-screen asking for a list of online tools they use and media sources.

2. Collect and preform initial analysis of social network data and content from each of these sources.

3. Interview 1 (offline social network analysis, discuss online networks, identify followers).

4. Interviews with followers.5. Interview 2 (reflect on new information from

followers and instances of political communication since Interview 1).

Challenges

Knowledge: identifying topic expertise from social media content

News trends/salient issues: tracking themes and providing visual for use during interviews

Social network graph: visualization for use during interviews (Netlytic)