- Introduction
- Background
- What is democracy?
- Define democracy in broad terms
- Start at roots! Where was democracy first seen? Be very broad
- System of government in which citizens elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body or exercise their power directly
- Narrow in on Democracy in the United States
- What is representative democracy?
- History of representative democracy in the U.S.–> Framers
- Why did the framers believe that it was the best form of government?
- Theories
- What are the milestones of democracy in the United States?
- Introduce theories about major shiftsà pre-internet politics, internet politics, social media politics
- Theories about democracy
- Social mediaà increased political participation
- Political participation means increased awareness
- Anonymityà lack of accountability
- Where are we today?
- Internet Culture
- What is internet culture?
- Length and Complexity of messages
- What is populism?
- Introduce theories behind populism
- Internet Culture
- What are the milestones of democracy in the United States?
- What is representative democracy?
- Define democracy in broad terms
- What is democracy?
- Background
- Explain Twitter
- How is Twitter Relevant to relevant to politics
- What is political participation
- 2016 election
- What does it say about social media and its role in the political process
- Is Twitter more persuasive than other sources?
- Rhetoric of politicians before and after emergence of social media
- What does this show?
- How has the emergence of Twitter as a key player in the political process impacted the nature of representative democracy in the United States?
- We are not electing the person who we believe will best represent our interests
- Twitter is more persuasive than traditional news media
- 2016 electionà RAPID spread of information
- Fake news
- Russia
- Analysis of Tweets
- Content Analysisà specific language in Donald Trump’s Tweets
- Who is he appealing to?
- How was Twitter used by the general public in this election cycleà maybe analyze tweets from random sample of general public
- Fake news
- How is social media adding to the spread of fake news?
- What does fake news do to democracy?
- How much do people really know/care about politics? Maybe relate back to length and complexity of message (Tweets)
- What tactics did Trump use
- How does this relate to leadership?
- Donald Trump is the President of the United States, how did he use Twitter to his advantage?
- What does this mean for other leaders?
- Look at rhetoric pre and post twitter
- Content Analysisà specific language in Donald Trump’s Tweets
Other Sources/ Sites to look at: https://wp.nyu.edu/smapp/papers-and-publications/