Social media and political participation: the case of the Muslim Council of Britain
Date
2012
Authors
Burford, Allison, author
Cavdar, Gamze, advisor
Betsill, Michele, committee member
Kodrich, Kris, committee member
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Abstract
It has been suggested by the media and scholars alike that social media might be a potential solution for problems of political participation. To test this hypothesis, this thesis examines the content of political participation by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) as reflected in its Twitter posts for the period of January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011. Furthermore, I compare traditional sources of political participation in the MCB (i.e. newsletters and press releases) from the years 2005 and 2011, with the political participation through Twitter. The findings indicate that political participation over social media occurs with substantially more frequency, and with a significant change in tone, while traditional participation shows very little change in tone or frequency.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
Britain
Muslim
social media
social network
Twitter
United Kingdom