The Reach of Politics via Twitter—Can That Be Real?
- 1 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 2 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 3 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 4 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 5 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 6 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 7 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 8 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 9 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 10 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 11 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 12 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 13 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 14 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 15 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 16 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 17 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 18 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 19 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 20 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 21 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 22 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
- 23 Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Abstract
If the reach of communication via Twitter is as great as it seems to be , that means a remarkable reconstruction of the public domain is in process. Until recently the public domain was the mass media and what they presented to their audiences. Now the audience has voice and is audience only in a new way. The potential consequences for the organization of politics are great. But there is the “ if ”. The report examines two challenges to the claim that the reach of the new media is as great as it may appear to be. One challenge is the number of individual accounts on Twitter. There seem to be too few to have the reach suggested. The other challenge is fake accounts. If the number of fake accounts is great , then the numbers for reach are a gross exaggeration. Those two challenges are examined and shown to be appropriate, but that the end result is diminishing the numbers about reach much less than would question the reconstruction of the public domain
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