The Effectiveness of Internet Grassroots Movements

Transcription

1 ROGERS STATE UNIVERSITY The Effectiveness of Internet Grassroots Movements Communication Research Methods Josh Gammon Fall 2010 This assignment was my first major research project at RSU. In this article I analyze the effectiveness on grassroots movements organized online. My major example is the Rally to Restore Sanity which was organized online by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I also look at the use of the internet and social networking at large by political campaigns and surveyed users of Facebook and Reddit to collect data relating to grassroots movements online.

2 Internet Grassroots Movements 2 What Are The Effects of Internet Grassroots Movements? How effective are internet based grassroots movements? Grassroots movements have been around for decades; however, the way they are being organized has changed drastically throughout time as technology has progressed. In the last 10 years, the internet has become a key player in the organization and implementation of grassroots campaigns. There are multiple angles to look from and several questions to ask when judging the effectiveness of the use of the internet in these campaigns. Examples of these include the effect that organizing through the internet has on the movement, how the internet affects individuals involved, whether or not the internet affects the movement rate of success, the internet s ability to keep activists active longer, and the effect that the phenomenon has on modern marketing. Through my research I have collected very interesting and informative material to answer the question of the effects of internet grassroots movements. I ve also performed studies of my own and the information that I gathered from surveys I conducted show that the effects reach beyond politics and delve into popular culture as well. To begin, I want to introduce some great information collected by scholars before me. In a study published by Kevin Wagner and Jason Gainous, this very phenomenon of online grassroots is explored. Their studies look specifically into the effectiveness of using the internet for political campaigning. If done well, a website can be a regular destination for not just information, but also social interaction (Wagner & Gainous 8). They explain the history of the internet in political campaigns and make note of the changes that occur throughout varying national election cycles. They then conduct research using election data from the 2006 midterm congressional elections and data from campaign webpage rankings to determine how effective it was for congressional candidates to have a large web presence. This research indicated that web

3 Internet Grassroots Movements 3 presence does indeed play a part in an election because a correlation was found between web presences and winning candidates (Wagner & Gainous 2007). The data alone answers the question of whether the internet is effective in online grassroots movements. There is approximately a 12% increase in vote share when moving from the lowest web presence to the highest (Wagner & Gainous 14). An article published in Journalism Studies and written by Steve Davis of Syracuse University describes with more detail the differences in online campaigning between national election cycles; more specifically, the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. It is noted that during the 2000 elections, internet campaigning was focused on a strategy that involved more top to bottom message feeding (Davis 2005). While this was a popular tactic during very early internet campaigning like the 1996 presidential elections, it had become less and less popular over time. Davis explains that the 2000 campaign taught candidates that the internet alone wouldn t make or break a campaign. There had to be some level of creative and social interaction involved. The 2004 campaign is when the social aspect of online campaigning was really kick started. The Bush campaign was the first to create a project called Virtual Precincts that allowed supporters to find and get in touch with other potential voters in their area as well as interact with other fellow supporters (2005). This shows that the internet alone isn t what makes an internet grassroots campaign effective. There has to be a level of innovation and creativity to motivate and interest supporters. An article by Edward Erikson for the Rock Mountain Communication Review discusses the idea of political fandom by analyzing Hillary Clinton s MySpace page during the 2008 presidential election. He suggests that when candidates decided to build online grassroots campaigns, they may not have predicted that the internet could change their message and lack the

4 Internet Grassroots Movements 4 ability to provide the proper type of communication between campaign and supporters (Erickson 2008). The paper explores the organization of MySpace in order to understand how political fandom differs from true political discourse. It then looks deeper into this phenomenon by focusing on the posts and activities of actual fans on Clinton s MySpace page. Many of these posts closer resemble a person s message to a celebrity than a politician (2008). They express their adoration for the candidate and fail to mention anything like policy or message. Finally, Erikson compares and contrasts the differences in political discourse on social networking sites and traditional websites. Originally, the campaigning on the internet was expected to create a better informed public but instead it created online communities of supporters (2008). This provides insight into how online campaigning affects the individuals involved and the campaign in general. The evolution of online journalism is explored in an article published in the American Journalism Review. It cites a study conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism that shows that while more and more people getting their news on politics from the internet, there are fewer original stories found online. Many news outlets are simply reproducing what the put in print for their online editions rather than writing more original articles (Palser 2004). This has begun to change over time, however, with the surge in blogs being produced. Although there is a smaller amount of original stories found on web news outlets, there is a more in-depth news experience for readers to take part in (2004). Examples of this include interactive extras posted on news sites such as MSNBC.com, WashingtonPost.com, and even local news websites. In The Disconnection in Online Politics the way politicians and political interest groups began using the web to specifically target young voters during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles is explored. Young people have always been a demographic that politicians have been

5 Internet Grassroots Movements 5 trying to reach and because young people are typically early adopters to new and rising technology, politicians and campaigns needed to build an online presence to get the attention of young voters. This goes along with the research I conducted. My surveys showed a large portion of young people online that are familiar with internet grassroots movements. They were also able to show a substantial increase in engagement of the youth between 2002 and 2004 (Xenos & Bennett 2004). A paper published in the Journalism of Broadcasting & Electronic Media examines political websites used during the year 2000 election cycle. More specifically, the research looks at coproduction, carnival, and mobilization of online action. The research shows from looking at websites, materials found on the web and interviews with online content creators that the use of the web during the 2000 election cycle reshaped the election process by becoming more extensive and interactive than in previous cycles. The internet s role in politics is growing and candidate interaction is growing with it. A joint study performed by professors from Louisiana State University, Virginia Tech, and the University of Florida researches the evolution of online campaigning by looking at the interaction involved in political websites and blogs. They analyze the blogs and websites of ten candidates who were running for the Democratic presidential nominee during the 2004 election cycle. They have learned that the use of hyperlinks in blogs to direct traffic toward volunteer and donation information rather than any outside sources and personal feel of blogs that directly addressed readers and often attacked opponents and discussed issues brought more people into the site and discussion. A second study was published by the authors of the previously mentioned article that focuses on the campaigning done online by John Kerry and George W. Bush during the 2004

6 Internet Grassroots Movements 6 election. They again study the campaign use of blogs and websites to solicit donations, spread information, and discuss issues with constituents. The authors include more great statistics in this study, in particular, they rank the percentage of the time each candidate discusses specific issues on their blogs and websites (Williams, Trammell, Postelnicu, Landrevill., & Martin 2005). It is interesting to see how different they rank between Democratic candidate Kerry and Republican candidate Bush. It speaks a lot about the demographic that each candidate is targeting while also clearly demonstrating the effects that these campaigns have on those involved. In my own studies I conducted surveys to test the knowledge people have of internet grassroots movements and their perceived effect. The two studies I conducted were both maintained online and the respondents include users of various social networking sites. My first survey was posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. The questions presented were generalized and refrained from being too specific. 67% of respondents were between the ages of 18 and 29. It has long been known that the internet and social networking sites especially are used by younger people. This is important to the future of internet grassroots movements because, given time; a trend could appear between age and participation in these movements.

7 Internet Grassroots Movements 7 Coincidentally, 67% of respondents also stated that they were familiar with internet grassroots movements before being given examples or an explanation of the term. Comparing this to the previous graph suggests a possibility that younger people are more familiar with internet grassroots movements than older people. This is further evidence in favor of a growing trend. As seen in the graph above, 41% of people ranked the effectiveness of internet grassroots movements to be a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most effective. The second highest response was a 4 with 29%. This shows that people are seeing a benefit to grassroots movements through the internet because they are able to recognize some kind of positive effect. In a second survey, I target only the website Reddit.com. To be more specific, I targeted the community on the website that were likely participants in the 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity

8 Internet Grassroots Movements 8 that was held in Washington DC by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. This survey is where some of the most interesting information came from. The participants here were also young people with 79% reporting to be between the ages of 18 and 29. Because of the political nature of the rally and movement, I felt it necessary to determine if people were planning to vote. 72% of the respondents said that they planned on voting in the November 2, 2010 mid-term election. However, a huge percentage, 89%, stated that the rally would have no effect on their voting choices. It was very interesting to discover that people seemed to have already made their decisions regarding their votes and wouldn t be using anything said at the rally to influence them. Internet grassroots movements are almost a movement all on their own. The trend in moving to the internet is growing rapidly and more people are getting involved. It has also spread from politics into popular culture. With all of the research produced by the many scholars

9 Internet Grassroots Movements 9 who have researched this topic and looking at how effective these movements have been for politicians and entertainers alike, it is hard to see the internet becoming anything less than a primary tool used for organizing people behind a cause.

10 Internet Grassroots Movements 10 Works Cited Davis, S. (2005). Presidential Campaigns Fine-tune Online Strategies. Journalism Studies, 6(2), doi: / Erikson, E. (2008). "Hillary is my Friend": MySpace and Political Fandom. Rocky Mountain Communication Review, 5(1), Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database. Foot, K., & Schneider, S. (2002). Online Action in Campaign 2000: An Exploratory Analysis of the U.S. Political Web Sphere. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46(2), 222. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database. Palser, B. (2004). The Web's Campaign Contributions. American Journalism Review, 26(4), 78. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database. Trammell, K., Williams, A., Postelnicu, M., & Landreville, K. (2006). Evolution of Online Campaigning: Increasing Interactivity in Candidate Web Sites and Blogs Through Text and Technical Features. Mass Communication & Society, 9(1), doi: /s mcs0901_2. Wagner, K., & Gainous, J. (2007). Electronic Grassroots: Measuring the Impact of the Internet on the Campaign. Conference Papers -- Midwestern Political Science Association, Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. Williams, A., Trammell, K., Postelnicu, M., Landreville, K., & Martin, J. (2005). Blogging and Hyperlinking: use of the Web to enhance viability during the 2004 US campaign. Journalism Studies, 6(2), doi: /

11 Internet Grassroots Movements 11 Xenos, M., & Bennett, W. (2007). The Disconnection In Online Politics: the youth political web sphere and US election sites, Information, Communication & Society, 10(4), doi: /

12 Internet Grassroots Movements 12 Appendix Survey 1 had 63 respondents and was posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit: How would you define your occupation status? Are you an American citizen? If yes, are you registered to vote? Are you familiar with any internet grassroots movements? Have you ever considered yourself a participant in a grassroots movement organized or represented on the internet? Have you ever considered yourself a participant in a political campaign? If you answered yes to question 8, were you a participant (Donated money, volunteered, signed up for lists, etc.) in one of these political campaigns? * Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign John McCain's 2008 Presidential Campaign Congressional Campaigns State and/or City Campaigns N/A In your opinion, how effective do you think a grassroots movement through the internet would be? 1 being least effective and 5 being the most:

13 Internet Grassroots Movements 13 How likely are you to ever participate in an internet grassroots movement? 1 being least likely and 5 being very likely: The following internet campaigns are not run by political organizations or election campaigns. They are also campaigns that have been organized recently and still have active members. Please place a check next to each campaign that you have heard of: * I m With Coco/Team Coco (In support of Conan O Brien during NBC s Tonight Show controversy) Restoring Truthiness (Gathered support for Comedy Central s Stephen Colbert to hold a rally.) Save Our Show campaigns (Chuck, Firefly, Star Trek, Jericho, Arrested Development, etc.) I ve never heard of any of these. Survey 2 had 61 respondents and was posted to the ColbertRally section of Reddit.com: Did you join the Restoring Truthiness movement before or after the Rally to Restore Sanity was announced? Have you noticed more or less activity in the Colbert Rally subreddit (r/colbertrally) since the announcement? If no, were you aware of the movement before taking this survey? Are you an American citizen?

14 Internet Grassroots Movements 14 If yes, are you registered to vote? If yes, do you plan on voting in the midterm elections on November 2? Does the Rally to Restore Sanity have an influence on whom/what you will vote for? Do you consider the Rally to Restore Sanity to be something to be taken seriously or just a joke? If you are an American citizen, do you consider yourself to be more liberal or conservative? Have you donated any money through DonorsChoose.org in honor of Restoring Truthiness? What is your age?