Work

Policy Actors’ Struggle for Attention: The Role of Peer Networks in the Migration Discourse on Twitter (X)

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Policy actors (PAs) like nongovernmental organizations, political parties or governmental institutions strategically communicate on social media to gain attention and thus influence the public agenda. We argue that networks of PAs engaged in the same issues (i.e., a PA’s peer network ) are crucial to attracting the interest of a broad audience. Drawing on network theory, we posit that (i) ideological homophily, and (ii) the centrality and embeddedness in a PA’s peer network increase the attention received from all Twitter (now X) users. We investigate these premises by analyzing the European migration discourse on Twitter (2014–2020). The results of our study reveal that the centrality of PAs in their peer networks and ideologically similar relations considerably increase attention from the whole Twittersphere. These findings provide strong evidence that a PA’s role in its organizational peer network on social media governs the attention received in the overall discourse.

Source: Nonprofit Policy Forum

DOI: 10.1515/npf-2023-0126

Authors: Sara Hanke, Hakan G. Sicakkan, Pierre Georges Van Wolleghem, Raphael Heiko Heiberger

Institutions: University of Stuttgart, University of Bergen

Language: English

Topic: Social Media and Politics

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Horizon 2020 Framework Programme

Award: G3351280718