Social Media Information flow and public representation : A case of S. Korean politicians on Twitter

This paper examines Twitter networks of South Korean politicians. We have constructed the Following-follower and the Mention network between politicians and analyzed their relationship through various statistical tests and network analysis. Unlike other politician‟s network such as bill cosponsorship and hyperlink network, the Twitter politician network lies in the embeddedness context, implying the network boundary is relatively fixed and politician‟s social networking activities has constantly exposed to the public. Hence, social pressure of connecting other politicians based on reciprocity is imposed to politicians so that reciprocity principle makes the Following-follower network as a network of social ritual. For the Mention network, the embeddedness makes politicians consider the public gazes when they choose whom to talk to. As a result, „mention‟ messages tend to direct toward politicians who has gained popularity from the public in Twitter so that the Mention network between politicians represents a network of political support. Keyword: Politician network, Twitter, Social ritual, political support, embeddedness