Online Comments hurt understanding, but register

by Alex Patton | Apr 5, 2013 | Political Media, Political Research

In a relatively new study released by the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication titled “The ‘Nasty Effect:’ Online Incivility and Risk Perceptions of Emerging Technologies”, an interesting theory emerges.

The study measures subjects’ understanding of a science topic after reading online comments posted on the story.

The study has wide ranging possible effects. As noted by others:

Now a study in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication suggests that rude comments on articles can even change the way we interpret the news. – NPR

In other words, just the tone of the comments . . . can significantly alter how audiences think about the technology itself.
Researchers found that even knowledge of science did not seem to mediate the effects of the comments. – JS Online

So basically, as political actors who are attempting to affect public opinion, the comments on a news article are almost, if not MORE important than the article itself.

My guess is this has a relationship to the social norm of highlighting the behavior one would like to see adopted and by making a thought public – no matter how vile the thought is – allows others to think that this thought is ‘normal’ and not out-of-line.

For politicians and campaigns, this study is important and your political efforts must now include rapid response to on-line articles whether newspaper, blogs, online TV stations, etc.

Why? It is science and it matters.

Read the study: “The ‘Nasty Effect:’ Online Incivility and Risk Perceptions of Emerging Technologies”

Florida’s Elected Officials’ Score Low Grades in Twitter Sociability

by Alex Patton | Feb 28, 2013 | Political Media, Political Research

Florida’s Elected Officials’ Score Low Grades in Twitter Sociability, Forgetting the ‘Social’ in Social Media.

Landmark Twitter study released: Politicians talk too much, listen too little

Ozean Media releases the landmark study of Twitter usage of Florida’s elected officials including Federal, Statewide, & State Legislature officials.  OMG! Don’t Forget: It’s Social Media:  A Report Card of Florida’s Elected Officials Use of Twitter is the most comprehensive review of Twitter usage by Florida’s politicians to date.

“Overall, Republicans earn a C and Democrats an F in twitter usage; however, when we grade on a curve Florida’s Republican officials perform better than the Democratic officials.  The good news is there is room for dramatic improvement,” said Alex Patton (@alex_patton), the study’s author.

Questions:

The study researched over a two week period set out to answer the following questions:

• Are Florida’s elected officials using Twitter?
• Is there a digital divide that separates Republican and Democrat elected officials in Florida?
• How are Florida’s elected officials using Twitter?
• Which of Florida’s elected officials could be considered to be embracing Twitter?
• Are there recommendations to be made to Florida’s elected officials in their use of Twitter?

The study represents the most comprehensive look at twitter usage of Florida’s elected officials, aggregating data from multiple sources and comparing the data to twitter superstars such as the University of Florida, President Obama, and Justin Bieber.

Findings of Study:

• As a whole, Florida’s elected officials are using Twitter in greater percentages than the general public.
• Florida’s elected Republican officials are using social media more than Florida’s elected Democrat officials –  57% of Republican elected officials are active users (defined as at least 1 status update in past 7 days) to 34% of Democrat elected officials.
• Republican elected officials are doing significantly better than Democrat elected officials using twitter.
  • If not for Florida’s Democratic Congressional Delegation — more specifically @DWStweets who alone accounts for 85% of the number of followers for Democrat elected officials — Florida’s Democrat elected officials would have little social media reach.
• Florida’s elected officials score well on influence, on authority; however,
• Florida’s elected officials score very low on outreach.
• A handful of Florida’s elected officials are embracing Twitter.  They are:

“Bottom line, when you look at how Florida’s politicians are actually using Twitter, they are forgetting the ‘social’ in social media.  The vast majority of Florida’s elected officials appear to be misunderstanding or misusing Twitter by using it as primarily as a broadcast media channel,” continues Mr. Patton.

“For Florida’s elected officials to truly realize the power of Twitter and social media, they must embrace the social part by talking with people, not only talking to people,” concludes Alex Patton.

The study, an executive summary, the study’s methodology, and complete data-set are available for download below.

All are invited to comment on the report using the Twitter hashtag #socialgrade.

Downloads

Press Release

Download Press Release  (filetype: pdf)

Study

Download Complete Study (filetype:pdf)

DataSet

Download dataset (Excel Sheet – .xlsx)

Download dataset (Excel Sheet – .xls)

Download dataset (Tab Delimited Txt – .txt)

P.S.  A little favor Request

Ozean hopes that in consideration of release of the study for free; you will grant one request:

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We thank you!