When the Medium Is the Message

Abstract

The present experiment investigated (a) if exposure to a high profile politician's Twitter page (vs. newspaper interview) affects the participants' evaluations of him and his policies and (b) how their proclivity to get deeply immersed in a narrative and identify with the story characters (i.e., transportability) moderates such effects. Even though the messages were identical, exposure to the candidate's Twitter page heightened the sense of direct conversation with him (i.e., social presence), which in turn induced more favorable impressions of and a stronger intention to vote for him among those high in transportability. Increased social presence also led to stronger agreement with the candidate's policy statements among those espousing favorable attitudes toward him. However, those presented with the newspaper interview better recognized the issues mentioned and had fewer thoughts about the candidate, suggesting that people adopt medium-specific processing strategies, focusing more or less on the source (vs. issue).

Tales of conflict: narrative immersion and political aggression in the United States

“…These same processes can occur with political narratives. Partisans may become immersed in political narratives (Lee & Shin, 2014;Wojcieszak & Kim, 2016) or imagine future political scenarios and visualize the consequences of those scenarios (McLaughlin, Velez, Gotlieb, Thompson, & Krause-McCord, 2019b). When partisans encounter a political narrative they find important or compelling, they will mentally represent and simulate the narrative.…”

“…It is well established that American partisans are becoming increasingly hostile and uncivil (Kalmoe, Gubler, & Wood, 2018;Kenski, Coe, & Rains, 2017), but relatively little work has considered the role political narratives play in cultivating such antagonism. Partisans can get absorbed in political narratives (Lee & Shin, 2014;Wojcieszak & Kim, 2016), feel emotionally connected to the fate of political characters (Jones, 2014;Polletta, 2015), and develop a deep conviction that political outcomes are personally relevant, even when they are about issues and events not experienced firsthand (McLaughlin & Velez, 2019;Polletta & Callahan, 2017).…”

“To the Bottle I Go . . . to Drain My Strain”

“…This recruitment decision was guided by the consideration that individuals who had never used Twitter might experience difficulty recognizing interface features or interaction styles unique to the platform (E.-J. Lee & Shin, 2014).…”

Platformed Interactions: How Social Media Platforms Relate to Candidate–Constituent Interaction During Finnish 2015 Election Campaigning

“…Candidates have many reasons to engage with social media during election campaigns: They offer an effective channel for voter activation, discussions with constituents, sharing of information and political views, and fund-raising (e.g., Kreiss, 2015;Stieglitz & Dang-Xuan, 2012;Wattal et al, 2010). Through interaction-based functions, social media seem to increase campaigning's efficiency, an effect that can be directly reflected in election results (Gainous & Wagner, 2014;Lee & Shin, 2012;Utz, 2009).…”