Agenda Trending: Reciprocity and the Predictive Capacity of Social Networking Sites in Intermedia Agenda Setting across Topics over Time

Jacob Groshek,Megan Clough Groshek

doi:10.17645/mac.v1i1.71

Abstract

In the contemporary converged media environment, agenda setting is being transformed by the dramatic growth of audiences that are simultaneously media users and producers. The study reported here addresses related gaps in the literature by first comparing the topical agendas of two leading traditional media outlets (New York Times and CNN) with the most frequently shared stories and trending topics on two widely popular Social Networking Sites (Facebook and Twitter). Time-series analyses of the most prominent topics identify the extent to which traditional media sets the agenda for social media as well as reciprocal agenda-setting effects of social media topics entering traditional media agendas. In addition, this study examines social intermedia agenda setting topically and across time within social networking sites, and in so doing, adds a vital understanding of where traditional media, online uses, and social media content intersect around instances of focusing events, particularly elections. Findings identify core differences between certain traditional and social media agendas, but also within social media agendas that extend from uses examined here. Additional results further suggest important topical and event-oriented limitations upon the predictive capacit of social networking sites to shape traditional media agendas over time.

Highlights

Since the seminal agenda-setting article of McCombs and Shaw [1], much has been made of the ability of media content to inform audiences what to think about rather than what to think
With a reinvigorated digital mythology surrounding the ability of Social Networking Sites (SNS) to alter the mix and flow of ideas in media content, this study examines two core concepts that are crucial for the future of agenda-setting research: (1) the extent to which traditional media still lead the public agenda as represented in SNSs, and (2) intermedia agenda setting within and across social media, with attention to focusing events, sharing media, and creating original content
During the timeframe and with the media analyzed here, it is evident that the public agenda—as manifest in trends and shares on social networking sites—has not yet come to drastically alter agendas of traditional media in a regularly predictive manner

Summary

Introduction

Since the seminal agenda-setting article of McCombs and Shaw [1], much has been made of the ability of media content to inform audiences what to think about rather than what to think. As originally introduced in that study, agenda setting conceptually identified that mass media— local and national newspapers, national news magazines, and national television evening news broadcasts—directly shaped the public agenda by strategically highlighting specific topics, issues, and actors in coverage over others. This process of increasing salience among media audiences, begun by McCombs and Shaw's initial inquiry of presidential campaign coverage, has been explored across explanatory dimensions such as need for orientation [2] as well as attributes in second-level agenda setting [3]. While the Internet and the transition of media production and audiences online has ameliorated the critical aspect of available space, the presentation order and style of reporting [6], as well as the number of stories that are covered in online channels have been shown to have agendasetting effects [7], though measuring agendas at a broad topical level does introduce certain limitations

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Conclusion