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Abstract:
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In the run up to the primary races for 2008, we are witnessing a new phase in election coverage as a direct result of the expansion of actors and the widespread adoption of new technologies. The popularity of the video sharing website, YouTube, has allowed citizens to actively participate in political discourse and abandon their passive roles.
This project attempts to analyze how new media technologies, particularly user-generated media, have changed traditional power structures during primary elections and established a central role for citizen participation. The interactivity and connectedness that new media tools provide enable citizens, or amateurs, to create their own generative content and have the ability to broadcast their ideas on a new virtual platform. This project suggests that certain types of user-generated content are playing an integral role in shaping the news coverage during presidential primaries and influencing the saliency of issues among voters.
The focus of this study analyzes web traffic and a selection of user-generated content featured on the video-sharing website, YouTube. Using a multi-methodological approach for research, this project combines content analysis, online surveying and statistical analysis.
Findings of these analyses suggest humor and effective messaging can drive web traffic to online videos. Political gaffes during the primary election became elemental to YouTube traffic and the popularization of certain user-generated videos. Through the use of peer-to-peer messaging, this analysis suggests that information created by peers can be influential and effective for reaching wide audiences. However, respondents disagreed that information for peers is a more trustworthy or accurate source then traditional media. This project's findings suggest that YouTube is still relatively new and continues to evolve as an effective source for political information. |