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What's Congress Doing on Twitter?
Title
What's Congress Doing on Twitter?
Creator
Hemphill, Libby, Otterbacher, Jahna, Shapiro, Matthew A.
Date
2013-10-23, 2012-10-23
Description
As Twitter becomes a more common means for officials to communicate with their constituents, it becomes more important that we understand how...
Show moreAs Twitter becomes a more common means for officials to communicate with their constituents, it becomes more important that we understand how officials use these communication tools. Using data from 380 members of Congress’ Twitter activity during the winter of 2012, we find that officials frequently use Twitter to advertise their political positions and to provide information but rarely to request political action from their constituents or to recognize the good work of others. We highlight a number of differences in communication frequency between men and women, Senators and Representatives, Republicans and Democrats. We provide groundwork for future research examining the behavior of public officials online and testing the predictive power of officials’ social media behavior.
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Chicago Politicians on Twitter
Title
Chicago Politicians on Twitter
Creator
Hemphill, Libby, Shapiro, Matthew A., Otterbacher, Jahna
Date
2012-03-12, 2012-03-12
Description
This paper uses data from 1,042 tweets posted by or mentioning Chicago Aldermen or Mayor Rahm Emanuel to examine how Chicago politicians use...
Show moreThis paper uses data from 1,042 tweets posted by or mentioning Chicago Aldermen or Mayor Rahm Emanuel to examine how Chicago politicians use social media. Twitter provides a public communication medium in which constituents and their representatives can have two-way conversations that others can witness and record, and we used qualitative and social network methods to examine conversations between Chicagoans and representatives in city government. We coded the contents of each tweet over the two-week time period (e.g., official business, fundraising) and created representations of the social networks created by the users’ following behaviors. These networks indicate who receives politicians’ tweets and help identify the audiences for political messaging in social media. Our analysis indicates that Chicago’s Aldermen and Mayor use Twitter for social conversations more often than political ones, and that only a small number of Aldermen dominate the resulting conversation networks.
Sponsorship: Social Network Research Group at IIT, IIT Graduate College
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Tweeting Vertically? Elected Officials’ Interactions with Citizens on Twitter
Title
Tweeting Vertically? Elected Officials’ Interactions with Citizens on Twitter
Creator
Otterbacher, Jahna, Shapiro, Matthew A., Hemphill, Libby
Date
2012-12-05, 2012
Description
Enthusiasts propose that social media promotes vertical political communication, giving citizens the opportunity to interact directly with...
Show moreEnthusiasts propose that social media promotes vertical political communication, giving citizens the opportunity to interact directly with their representatives. However, skeptics claim that politicians avoid direct engagement with constituents, using technology to present a façade of interactivity instead. This study explores if and how elected officials in three regions of the world are using Twitter to interact with the public. We examine the Twitter activity of 15 officials over a period of six months. We show that in addition to the structural features of Twitter that are designed to promote interaction, officials rely on language to foster or to avoid engagement. It also provides yet more evidence that the existence of interactive features does not guarantee interactivity.
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Doing What I Say: Connecting Congressional Social Media Behavior and Congressional Voting
Title
Doing What I Say: Connecting Congressional Social Media Behavior and Congressional Voting
Creator
Shapiro, Matthew A., Hemphill, Libby, Otterbacher, Jahna
Date
2012-03-10, 2012-03-10
Description
Public officials’ communication has been explored at length in terms of how such their statements are conveyed in the traditional media, but...
Show morePublic officials’ communication has been explored at length in terms of how such their statements are conveyed in the traditional media, but minimal research has been done to examine their communication via social media. This paper explores the kinds of statements U.S. officials are making on Twitter in terms of the actions they are trying to achieve. We then analyze the correlation between these statements, Congressional communication network structures, and voting behavior. Our analysis leverages over 29,000 tweets by members of Congress in conjunction with existing DW-NOMINATE voting behavior data. We find that pro-social and self-promoting statements correlate with Congressional voting records but that position within the Congressional communication network does not correlate with voting behavior.
Sponsorship: Social Networks Research Group at IIT, IIT Graduate College
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Completing the Puzzle: Comparable Community Determination for Illinois Municipalities
Title
Completing the Puzzle: Comparable Community Determination for Illinois Municipalities
Creator
Ahrens, Aric G.
Date
2012-07-16, 1998-05
Description
In the process of negotiating for new contracts, public safety (i.e. Police and Firefighters) employee unions and municipal managers compare...
Show moreIn the process of negotiating for new contracts, public safety (i.e. Police and Firefighters) employee unions and municipal managers compare the essential elements of their contract (i.e. wages) with those of other “comparable” municipalities. The wages, benefits and working conditions of other “comparable” municipalities are used to provide evidence supporting the positions taken on both sides of the negotiating table. The problem is that negotiating teams rarely employ a consistent and accurate method to determine which municipalities should be compared to their own. Negotiating teams make their own determinations of comparability, which must be defended should arbitration proceedings become necessary. However, most of the methods of comparability determination currently employed by negotiating teams are extremely simple and are lacking a sound analytical basis. These methods are inadequate in terms of accuracy, and would be difficult to defend in arbitration proceedings. The method outlined in the following report provides a sound analytical basis for comparability determination. The recommendation is to employ the use of Comparability Tables. Comparability Tables : The Tables provide a list of which communities are most comparable to each particular community, and how comparable they are. This solution is augmented by three supporting elements which help to address the weaknesses apparent in the Comparability Tables. The three supporting elements are a Dissimilarity Matrix, Factor Analytic Rankings, and Factor Analytic Tables. Dissimilarity Matrix : The Matrix provides a comparability determination for communities not listed on a particular community’s Comparability Table. Factor Analytic Rankings : The Rankings allow a determination of why two communities are or are not comparable. Factor Analytic Tables : The Tables allow a quick reference to the particular characteristics of each community. The Comparability Tables, along with the supporting elements, provide negotiating teams with a list of comparable communities that is more accurate and defensible than the lists provided by other methods. This method describes which communities are comparable, how comparable they are, and why they are comparable. Negotiating teams who employ this method of comparability determination can approach their negotiations confident that their choice of comparable communities is accurate and can stand up to an arbitrator’s inquiry.
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