While observers have focused on the political use of social media when exploring their democratic potential, we know little about users’ perceptions of these media. These perceptions could well be important to understanding the political use of social media. In exploring users’ perceptions, the article asks whether politicians and voters view social media in a similar way, and to what extent th...

Which individuals are most responsive to get-out-the-vote (GOTV) messages that emphasize the social aspects of voting? Recent literature has shown that GOTV messages that emphasize the social environment in which an individual is embedded are particularly effective at increasing voting rates. Until now, we have not had good estimates for the types of people for whom social GOTV messages are mos...

This article is driven by two interrelated questions. First, is the Internet enabling organizational change among traditional interest groups and political parties, such that they are starting to resemble the looser network forms characteristic of social movements? Second, what role is the Internet playing in new, conceptually intriguing citizen organizations such as MoveOn, the U.S.-based but ...

In the social sciences, a direct relationship with societal actors is an extended practice of conducting research, particularly in fields entailing in-depth empirical fieldwork. This paper analyzes interactive processes observed knowledge production sciences. The aim to understand how these relationships are constructed between academic and non-academic actors, which goal researchers approachin...