_.png){kind=logo}
* Corresponding Author
‘As if it Was Something Spoken by a Friend’: The Study of Digital Vote-Canvassing Networks on Facebook During the 2013 Bangkok Gubernatorial Election Campaign
https://doi.org/10.22146/ikat.v2i1.37394 Mukda Pratheepwatanawong(1*)
(1) Mekong Studies Center, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
Adapting the idea of the traditional vote-canvassing network for the analysis of electoral politics in the digital arena and using the concept of ‘two-steps flow’, this paper explores the way in which Facebook was used to establish and develop ‘digital vote-canvassing networks’ during the 2013 Bangkok gubernatorial election campaign, which was the latest and a completed election in Thailand. This paper attempts to answer the question ‘How was the relationship among the individuals who were part of the candidates’ networks on social networking sites developed during the 2013 Bangkok gubernatorial election campaign?’ This research used multimodal analysis to determine the two main contenders’ strategy in expanding their Facebook network during the 2013 Bangkok gubernatorial election campaign. This research also conducted a total of 14 semi-structured interviews with Thai politicians, election candidates and their public relations personnel to examine the significant of relationship, interaction and spreadability of content on SNSs during the election campaign. This paper argues that the development of relationships among people connected to the digital vote-canvassing networks was integrated through the coordination and dissemination of campaign content on Facebook to enhance the electoral ties between candidates, their followers and followers’ friends, who might or might not be voters of the election. Vote-canvassing systems become ‘digital’ when a candidate’s public relations personnel acted as core vote-canvassers who manage and transmit campaign messages on the candidate’s Facebook page on behalf of the candidate, while the candidate’s followers interacted and spread the candidate’s campaign message to their own networks, enabling more Facebook users, who are connected to candidates’ Facebook page, in one way or another, to be exposed to the campaign content. However, there is no guarantee of votes in the digital vote-canvassing network.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Baym, N. K. (2010). Personal Connections in The Digital Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bimber, B. (2014). Digital Media in the Obama Campaigns of 2008 and 2012: Adaptation to the Personalized Political Communication Environment. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 11, pp.130–150.
Blumler, J. G., & Kavanagh, D. (1999). The Third Age of Political Communication: Influences and Features. Political Communication, 16, pp.209–230.
Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, nd Scholarship.Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, pp.210–230.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
Burnham, P., Gilland, K., Grant, W., & Layton-Henry, Z. (2004). Research Methods in Politics. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Callahan, W. A., & McCargo, D. (1996). Vote-buying in Thailand’s Northeast: The July 1995 General Election. Asian Survey, 36(4), pp.376–392.
Chattharakul, A. (2010). Thai Electoral Campaigning: Vote-Canvassing Networks and Hybrid Voting.Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 29(4), pp.67–95.
Chantornvong, S. (1993). เลือกตั้งวิกฤต: ปัญหาและทางออก[Thai Elections in Crisis: Problems and Solutions]. Bangkok: Kopfai Publishing.
Chongkolrattanaporn, T., & Combs, H. (2014). Thai Citizens’ Utilization of Social Media Communications Devices During the Bangkok Governor Campaign in 2013. In Proceedings of American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences(pp. 164–170).
Copeland, L., & Römmele, A. (2014). Beyond The Base? Political Parties, Citizen Activists, and Digital Media Usein the 2009 German Federal Election Campaign. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 11, pp.169–185.
Dimitrova, D., & Bystrom, D. (2013). The Effects of social Media on Political Participation and candidate Image Evaluations in the 2012 Iowa Caucuses. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(11), pp.1568–1583.
Dubrofsky, R. E. (2011). Surveillance on reality television and Facebook: From Authenticity to Flowing Data. Communication Theory, 21(2), pp.111–129.
Edgerly, S., Bode, L., Kim, Y. M., & Shah, D. V. (2013). Campaigns Go Social: Are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter Changing Elections? In T. N. Ridout (Ed.), New Directions in Media and Politics(pp. 82–99). New York: Routledge.
Goodnow, T. (2013). Facing Off: A Comparative Analysis of Obama and Romney Facebook Timeline Photographs. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(11), pp.1584–1595.
Grabe, M. E., & Bucy, E. P. (2013). Image Bite Analysis of Political Visuals: Understanding the Visual Framing Process in Election News. In E. P. Bucy & R. L. Holbert (Eds.), The Sourcebook for Political Communication Research: Methods, Measures, and Analytical Techniques(pp. 209–237). New York: Routledge.
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), pp.1360–1380.
Grbich, C. (2013). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Introduction. London: Sage.
Gillham, B. (2000). The Research Interview. London: Continuum.
Hansen, K. M., & Kosiara-Pedersen, K. (2014). Cyber-campaigning in Denmark: Application and Effects of Candidate Campaigning. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 11(2), pp.206–219.
Humphreys, L. (2011). Who’s watching Whom? A Study of interactive Technology and Surveillance. Journal of Communication, 61(4), pp.575–595.
Hutton, J. G. (1999). The Definition, Dimensions, and Domain of Public Relations. Public Relations Review, 25(2), pp.199–214.
Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013).Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in A Networked Culture. New York: New York University Press.
Jewitt, C. (2009). An Introduction to Multimodality. In C. Jewitt (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis(pp. 14–27). New York: Routledge.
Katz, E., & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1955). PersonalInfluence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communication. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Free Press.
Kent, M. L. (2010). Directions in Social Media for Professionals and Scholars. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Public Relations(pp. 643–656). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
Kress, G., & Leeuwen, T. Van. (2006). ReadingImages: The Grammar of Visual Design(2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Laothamatas. Anek. (1997). Development and Democratization: ATheoretical Introduction with Reference to the Southeast Asian and East Asian Cases. In Anek Laothamatas (Ed.), Democratization in Southeast and East Asia(pp. 1–20). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
__________. (1996). A Tale of Two Democracies: Conflicting Perceptions of Elections and Democracy in Thailand. In R. H. Taylor (Ed.), The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia(pp. 201–223). Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
Marcinkowski, F., & Metag, J. (2014). Why Do Candidates Use Online Media in Constituency Campaigning? An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 11(2), pp.151–168.
Miller, M. (2011). Facebook for Grown-Ups: Use Facebook to Reconnect with Old Friends, Family, and Co-Workers(2nd ed.). Que Publishing.
Norris, P., & Curtice, J. (2008). Getting the Message Out: A Two-Step Model of the Role of the Internet in Campaign Communication Flows During the 2005 British General Election. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 4(4), pp.3–13.
Ockey, J. (2004). Making Democracy: Leadership, Class, Gender, and Political Participation in Thailand. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Potter, W. J. (2012). Media Effects. California: Sage.
Pratheepwatanawong, M. (2018) 'Uses of Social Networking Sites as A Development of Political Communication and election Campaigns in Thailand'. In Morakot Meyer and Zhu Tingshu (eds), Multicultural ASEAN: Diversity in Identity, Language, Memory and Media(eds) (pp.65-90). Bangkok: Multicultural ASEAN Center Project, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University.
Samakkarn, S. (1994). พี่น้อง[Phi Nong]. In Suwanna Satha-Anand & Nuangnoi Boonyanate (Eds.), คำ: ร่องรอยความคิดความเชื่อไทย[Words: Trace Thinking, Thai Belief](pp. 164–171). Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.
Stokes-Brown, A. (2012). Minority Candidates and theChanging Landscape of Campaigns in the Twenty-First Century. In R. J. Semiatin (Ed.), Campaigns on the Cutting Edge(pp. 211–225). London: Sage.
Strandberg, K. (2013). A Social Media Revolution or Just A Case of History Repeating Itself? The Use of Social Media in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary Elections. New Media and Society, 0(0), pp.1–19.
Strömbäck, J., & Kiousis, S. (2011). Political Public Relations: Defining and Mapping An Emergent Field. In J. Strömbäck & S. Kiousis (Eds.), Political Public Relations: Principles and Applications(pp. 1–32). New York: Routledge.
Supadhiloke, B. (2015). How Opinion Polls Affect Voting in Bangkok’s Gubernatorial Election.Asian Journal of Communication, 25(2), pp.135–161.
Taveesin, N., & Brown, W. (2006). The Use of Communication Technology in Thailand’s Political Process. Asian Journal of Communication, 16(1), pp.59–78.
Thananithichot, S. (2012). Political Engagement and Participation of Thai Citizens: the Rural-Urban Disparity. Contemporary Politics, 18(1), pp.87–108.
Maisrikrod, S & McCargo, D. (1997). Electoral Politics: Commercialisation and Exclusion. In Political Change in Thailand: Democracy and Participation(pp. 132–148). London: Routledge.
Sweetser, K. D. (2011). Digital Political Public Relations. In J. Strömbäck & S. Kiousis (Eds.), Political Public Relations: Principles and Applications(pp. 293–313). New York: Routledge.
Van Dijck, J. (2013). The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
__________. (2006). The Network Society. London: Sage.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ikat.v2i1.37394
Article Metrics
Abstract views : 2846
| 
views : 2789
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2018 Mukda Pratheepwatanawong
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.