The Digital Architectures of Social Media

Comparing Political Campaigning on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in the 2016 U.S. Election

Bibliographic Data

ID23324403
AuthorsMichael Bossetta (0000-0002-8611-5487, University of Copenhagen, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume95
Issue2
Pages471-496
Publication date2018-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1077-6990 • E-ISSN: 2161-430X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1077699018763307
OpenAlexW2794863590
LanguageEN
Citations received333
References cited49

The present study argues that political communication on social media is mediated by a platform’s digital architecture—the technical protocols that enable, constrain, and shape user behavior in a virtual space. A framework for understanding digital architectures is introduced, and four platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat) are compared along the typology. Using the 2016 U.S. election as a case, interviews with three Republican digital strategists are combined with social media data to qualify the study’s theoretical claim that a platform’s network structure, functionality, algorithmic filtering, and datafication model affect political campaign strategy on social media.

Affect (linguistics) · Digital media · New media · Political communication · Politics · Social media · Social network (sociolinguistics) · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access