Does Interactivity Serve the Public Interest?

Abstract

Political blogs are distinguished by their heightened interactivity, allowing users to participate directly in the political process. Does the interactivity afforded by political blogs really serve the public interest by contributing to deliberative democracy? A longitudinal between-subjects experiment was conducted during the week preceding an election to answer this question. Results suggest that there is a trade-off between information provided and interaction offered to blog users, which can impact their engagement in democratic discourse. Registered voters and unregistered users responded in opposite ways, with theoretical implications for the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the psychology of interactivity as well as practical implications for the use of interactivity in promoting deliberative democracy.

Social Interaction Technologies and the Future of Blogging

“…Even though blogs are a newborn medium-if one compares their short existence with more than a 300-year history of newspapers-political commentators, social observers, and cultural critics have all praised the value and impact of blogs on society and culture. Among social scientists, blogs have received general acclaim for raising the levels of political participation (Kaye, 2005;Pole, 2010) and serving as gatekeepers in campaigns and elections (Garris, Guillory, & Sundar, 2011); empowering citizens (Papacharissi, 2007); encouraging civic engagement (Rheingold, 2008); fostering public discourse (Benkler & Shaw, 2010;Etling et al, 2010); creating a new form of journalism (Johnson & Kaye, 2004;Wall, 2005); building community (Kervin, Mantei, & Herrington, 2010); harnessing collective intelligence (Gregg, 2010); and rendering knowledge (Park, Jo, & Moon, 2010). What's more, blogs have been viewed as one of the most striking developments of the early twenty-first century (Sunstein, 2009, p. 138).…”