Political Messaging on Social Media: Facebook Campaigning and Political Silos

Authors

Morgan Williams, Brigham Young University
Jeremy C. Pope, Brigham Young University

Keywords

political messaging, social media, Facebook campaigning, political silos

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Political Science

Abstract

The make-up of political campaigns has transformed with the creation of the internet. What used to be a world of door to door canvassing and mass produced mailers sent to party members is now a world of entertaining YouTube videos and Facebook likes. It is no longer easy to gather and track the political advertisements that people are exposed to, because they come from so many different sources. It used to be that if you were a Republican, it would be likely you would only be exposed to Republican messaging with the same pattern reflected in the Democratic Party. This concept was called “political silos.” I hypothesized that with the internet and social media being used as the main sources of campaigning in recent elections that people would be exposed to a variety of political messages, from a variety of sources, breaking down these silos.

Recommended Citation

Williams, Morgan and Pope, Jeremy C. (2016) "Political Messaging on Social Media: Facebook Campaigning and Political Silos," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2016: Iss. 1, Article 53.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2016/iss1/53