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The vocal citizens of the European Parliament Facebook page: Who are they and why do they get engaged online?

Martinez Martinez, Helena LU (2019) EUHR18 20191
European Studies
Abstract
Digital media and social media are by now established platforms for daily online social interaction, expression and debate, also in the political field. They offer users a space to voice and exchange opinions, as well as a tool to organise political acts of protest or support around offline world events. And they are changing the game of politics in remarkable ways. Political institutions such as the EU also understand the potential of social media as a platform to communicate with its citizens, and even as a means to increase its transparency and legitimacy.
This dissertation examines the citizens who comment on the particular setting of the European Parliament Facebook and defends their comments contribute to the formation of public... (More)
Digital media and social media are by now established platforms for daily online social interaction, expression and debate, also in the political field. They offer users a space to voice and exchange opinions, as well as a tool to organise political acts of protest or support around offline world events. And they are changing the game of politics in remarkable ways. Political institutions such as the EU also understand the potential of social media as a platform to communicate with its citizens, and even as a means to increase its transparency and legitimacy.
This dissertation examines the citizens who comment on the particular setting of the European Parliament Facebook and defends their comments contribute to the formation of public opinion and their authors conform a Europeanised public. The study gathered 110 participants from different countries and adopted an online survey method in order to capture (1) who these commenters are, (2) how Europeanised they are, (3) why they comment, (4) how often they do so and (5) how interested in politics they are, by asking them individually through a questionnaire. The outcomes of the study suggest that commenters of the European Parliament page are mostly male and well educated, Europeanised as well as interested in EU politics and that their main drive to comment is being able to express their opinions on EU affairs they consider important. The European public sphere supported by this particular page shows a great deal of transnationalism, but is not representative of all Europeans. (Less)
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author
Martinez Martinez, Helena LU
supervisor
organization
course
EUHR18 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
EU, European politics, social media, European Parliament, Facebook, public sphere, commenters, European Studies, European Public Sphere, survey
language
English
id
8983820
date added to LUP
2019-06-24 16:33:17
date last changed
2019-06-24 16:33:17
@misc{8983820,
  abstract     = {{Digital media and social media are by now established platforms for daily online social interaction, expression and debate, also in the political field. They offer users a space to voice and exchange opinions, as well as a tool to organise political acts of protest or support around offline world events. And they are changing the game of politics in remarkable ways. Political institutions such as the EU also understand the potential of social media as a platform to communicate with its citizens, and even as a means to increase its transparency and legitimacy.
This dissertation examines the citizens who comment on the particular setting of the European Parliament Facebook and defends their comments contribute to the formation of public opinion and their authors conform a Europeanised public. The study gathered 110 participants from different countries and adopted an online survey method in order to capture (1) who these commenters are, (2) how Europeanised they are, (3) why they comment, (4) how often they do so and (5) how interested in politics they are, by asking them individually through a questionnaire. The outcomes of the study suggest that commenters of the European Parliament page are mostly male and well educated, Europeanised as well as interested in EU politics and that their main drive to comment is being able to express their opinions on EU affairs they consider important. The European public sphere supported by this particular page shows a great deal of transnationalism, but is not representative of all Europeans.}},
  author       = {{Martinez Martinez, Helena}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The vocal citizens of the European Parliament Facebook page: Who are they and why do they get engaged online?}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}