ABSTRACT

Recent research of interest groups’ use of Twitter focuses on its use for intra-group member mobilization. Less has been said about social media’s effects on the discourse within an issue community. Do interest groups that are part of a larger community, but whose positions divert from each other, use Twitter to engage each other? Our research explores whether groups within a defined issue community – American-Jewish organizations advocating on U.S.-Israel relations – use Twitter for dialog, or whether their Twitter networks represent echo chambers. Based on the results of our social network analysis we find the use of Twitter is more complex than the black-and-white narrative of echo chamber vs. public sphere. We find groups interact with both supporters and detractors, using Twitter’s communication tools (we focus here on @mentions) strategically – but on balance the results of our analysis support a “sphericules” interpretation of social media.

摘要

最近对利益集团使用 Twitter 的研究集中在其用于组内成员动员上。关于社交媒体对问题社区内的话语影响的说法较少。属于更大社区但立场相互偏离的利益团体是否使用 Twitter 相互交流？我们的研究探讨了特定问题社区内的团体——倡导美以关系的美国犹太组织——是否使用 Twitter 进行对话，或者他们的 Twitter 网络是否代表回音室。根据我们的社交网络分析结果，我们发现 Twitter 的使用比回声室与公共领域的黑白叙述更为复杂。我们发现团体与支持者和批评者都有互动，