Research Questions
One of the most recent surveys by the U.S Department of State indicates that approximately 50% of the American population is actively involved in social networking. However, existing data is inconclusive on the extent to which social networking, especially twitter, has an influence on social perception (Ridout 2013, p.48).
This research therefore seeks to quantify the influence of Twitter as a perception driver by evaluating the use of Twitter as a source of information and sentiment. In particular, this research will focus on the 2012 U.S. presidential election campaigns and seek to explore the impact of the tweets disseminated by Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney Twitter accounts on their supporters and on swing voters (Ridout 2013, p.46).
It is hypothesized that Twitter played a major role in consolidating votes by underscoring the agenda of the candidates and this proposal therefore seeks to answer the following questions:
- To what extent did Twitter influence the results of the 2012 presidential election?
- Which presidential candidate benefited the most from using Twitter?
- To what extent is the effect of Twitter to particular demographic such as age, gender, ethnicity, race and religion?
- How far has Twitter as a campaign device penetrated society with regard message segmentation as compared to previous campaign years?
Topic Description
In America today two thirds of all social network users are now using twitter which is now not only limited to the youths but has also being adopted by older people as a social network tool. Recent statistics show that 35% of Americans who are 65 years old and above use twitter (Krugman 2009, p.212).
There is a change in the age bracket of Twitter users which was initially composed of individuals aged between age 30 and 40 but in the recent years, the population is now composed of young people in their 20’s and teens. It is true that the 2012 elections campaigns were greatly discussed on Twitter, however not everyone who is on Twitter is interested in political campaigns (Ridout 2013, p.51).
Most of them indulge in socializing with friends thus reducing the percentage of those engaging in political discourse via Twitter to 39%. Nonetheless, despite the low percentage of Twitter users who engage in politics, this group is able to indulge their friends who are not interested in politics into discussions and even argues their views increasing the total percentage to those interested in political talk by 16% (Giuliani 2007, p.20).
There has been a positive move towards effective use of Twitter as campaign handle but sadly 18% of Twitter users have dropped their accounts as a result of friends who tweet too much politics and/or do not agree with the users’ point of view. The research on the effects of Twitter as a campaign strategy has been put under observation since 2000 (Tocqueville 2000, p.95).
In the past years the use of internet to campaign was ignored and other channels like television and radio were prioritized but in the year 2008 there was a change. The candidate Barrack Obama wanted to reach out to the youth and this was achieved through the use of Twitter. Since then the internet has continued to be used as a fundamental campaign tool (Powell and Persico 2010, p.260).
Approaches
Qualitative and quantitative research will be applied to analyze the research data whereby the research data will be obtained from diverse sources that are concerned with different areas of study. The development process of the research will require the objective analysis of relevant data which will be support decision making process.
The data will require qualitative approval which will necessitate organizing the data and deriving cogent interpretation of the research in an articulate and structured configuration. The data will be sourced from both materials and online secondary sources from well-known authors and publishers.
Quantitative data will be attained through a survey with a 5 point Likert scale from -2 to +2.The survey will be presented to Twitter users who will be selected at random N=200. Questions such as “How often did you the 2012 presidential candidate on twitter”, “How far did the presidential candidates’ twitter sentiments influence your voting decision” will be presented and the answer rated on a 5 points scale of “very often, fairly often, once in a while, very few times and never” or “very high, high, average, low, very low”.
The scale will be reversed across questions in the survey to ensure the participants pay attention to the questions. Statistical software and regression models will then be utilized to evaluate the correlation between voting decisions and use of twitter.
If the correlation is positive whereby the correlation coefficient between variables and either progression and alignment variables is between 0.1 and 1, then we will be able to deduce that twitter has a positive influence on these variables. If the correlation is negative, we can affirm that twitter has a negative or non-existent influence on political decisions.
Annotated Bibliography
Giuliani, R 2007, Leadership, Miramax Books, Boston.
This book evaluates the values of good and effective leadership and all the available tools to make a leader effective. The book provides essential material for this research that illustrates the use of social network in leadership.
Krugman, P 2009, The Conscience of a Liberal, W. W. Norton, New York.
Written from an economic perspective this book evaluates the development of American society in a historical context. This book will be essential to this research by providing an economic point of view through which political alignment and social perceptions can be analyzed.
Powell, C and Persico, J 2010, My American Journey, Random House Publishing Group, Washington D.C.
This biography examines a person’s own experience on penetration of social media tool into the political sphere. It offers empirical data on the progression of internet based campaigns. The author provides useful information on recent political strategies that utilize social media as a key campaign platform.
Ridout, N 2013, New Directions in Media and Politics, Routledge, New York.
This book evaluates the impact of social media on the political sphere. It evaluates the influence of demography on political agenda through the internet. In this text, it provides information on how media and politics interact and creating a starting point for the research.
Tocqueville, D 2000, Democracy in America, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
This is a book that majors on praising the United States of America for the continued expansion of civil rights and democratic space. It is rated to be among the best books in U.S. and is useful to the research by offering insight into the expression of legal ideas through social media without fear of political ramifications.