Mapping the 'search agenda:' a citizen-centric approach to 'political' information flows in elections

Trevisan, F. (2013) Mapping the 'search agenda:' a citizen-centric approach to 'political' information flows in elections. In: ECREA Symposium: (Mis)understanding Political Participation, Munich, Germany, 11-12 Oct 2013,

Abstract

Online media have been credited with reducing the distance between citizens and politicians as well as augmenting the pace and frequency of communication between voters on one side and candidates on the other. However, studies of information flows in elections continue to focus primarily on official campaign messages, both online and offline. This paper argues that this approach seeks to apply traditional political communication research methods to new phenomena in a way that is at best restrictive and at worst potentially distortive. In a media ecology in which users have access to an unprecedented amount of information on virtually any topic, it is useful to ask instead whether voters are using online resources to break free of ‘information hegemony’ and create their own election agenda. As such, this paper discusses a new approach for capturing and analyzing search engine use in elections developed as part of a joint ESRC‐Google knowledge transfer program. Understanding key online search trends in elections can help clarify whether citizens are truly becoming ever more disenfranchised from politics – as critical literature has long claimed – or instead they are following non‐conventional paths to information, driven by their interests and escaping the influence of ‘staged’ campaigns. Using Google Trends data, key ‘search events’ (i.e. search spikes for election‐related information) in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and the 2010 UK general election were identified and investigated in conjunction with relevant coverage from traditional news media and official campaign responses. Similarly to the way in which politically relevant discussions can take place inadvertently among unaware users in online third spaces, search trends revealed that citizens may in fact be more interested in politics than traditional research approaches have suggested, highlighting the need to redefine what counts as ‘political’ once information is released in the new online ecosphere.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Trevisan, Dr Filippo
• Authors: Trevisan, F.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU