Diversity in Canadian election-related Twitter discourses: Influential voices and the media logic of #elxn42 and #cdnpoli hashtags

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing qualitative and quantitative content analysis of Twitter, this study examined 5,209 tweets with popular hashtags #elxn42 and #cdnpoli to determine what was discussed on the social media platform one week preceding the 2015 Canadian federal election. Searching for diversity-related issues, researchers asked whether diverse groups were represented among the most influential accounts. It also identified the most common topics shared, and whether the shared content represented democratic discussion. Finally, the study looked at how much election-relatedsharing among influencers conformed to a media logic or social media logic framework. Researchers found that Twitter use during the election campaign did not provide a level playing field for political discussion. Instead, data suggested individual celebrity users were more likely to be amplified than others. Despite this, however, it appears that issues that were relevant to diverse groups made it into the Twitter conversation, making up a meaningful portion of tweets related to the election. These findings suggest that if diverse voices were not retweeted, at least issues were still being discussed, and thus contradict the popular idea of online echo chambers on Twitter.