Legislative agenda-setting power of social media

Abstract

Abstract In an effort to understand the legislative agenda setting impacts of social media content, the present study analyzes political discourse on Twitter regarding the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to dissect the Twitter conversation aimed at Representative Karen Bass, the sponsor of the H.R.7120, in the weeks leading up to the bill’s filing, our analysis of nearly 68,000 tweets posted in the days before the bill’s filing reveals that constituents strongly urged the Representative to work on legislation targeted on police reform – offering evidence of how constituents demanded, and drove, legislative action. Considering our findings, we argue that there is considerable potential for social media to serve as an amplifier of social issues and concerns among constituents. Through this process, we posit that social media can prove to be a vital catalyst in social justice reform.