The Politics of Facebook

Obama speaking to a joint congressional session in 2009. Source: By Lawrence Jackson (whitehouse.gov) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As the world learned in the aftermath of the 2016 United States Presidential election, social media can have a profound effect on the public’s perception of a candidate running for or already in office. The Pew Research Center conducted a study following how each member of Congress used Facebook during the entirety of the 114th Congressional Session, which ran during two full years of Barack Obama’s Presidency, and during the first year of the 115th Congressional Session, which commenced during the final weeks of President Obama’s term. The data measures through the last day of 2017.

If the Congress member was a Republican, the study measured the percentage of posts that were made in opposition of either Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and/or Democrats and Liberals. If they were a Democrat, the posts collected were in opposition of Donald Trump, the Republican Party or conservatives. The data shows that Democratic members of Congress had a higher tendency to make Facebook posts that were opposing Republicans or their affiliates. The chart below demonstrates the collective data from both the 114th and 115th Congresses.

The data collected also shows trends in the percentage of posts made about local events, people, or places, pertaining to the politician’s respective state or district. During the 114th and 115th sessions, Republicans consistently made more posts about local topics, however, both parties decreased their percentage of locally themed posts during the 115th Congress. The chart below demonstrates the collective percentage for all of the Congressional members from each party. It is important to note that this overall decrease coincided with the tumultuous presidential transfer.

When taking a closer look at the data of representatives from a specific state, one can see trends in each party. For example, certain North Carolina representatives showed significant spikes in their opposition and support posts during the 115th Congress. David Price (D) and Alma Adams (D) were the representatives with the highest portion of opposition posts, both of which spiked at least 29% between the 114th and 115th Congresses. On the other hand, Republican representatives Mark Meadows and Robert Pittenger showed the highest percentage of supportive posts. They also demonstrated a great increase between sessions, with Meadows increasing 27% and Pittenger jumping 30%. These number aren’t exactly surprising, but they do provoke the question of which type of Facebook rhetoric is more effective: supporting your party or expressing opposition to the other?

Sources

The Pew Research Center: Congressional Rhetoric on Facebook (2015-2017) Estimated Support, Opposition, and Local Topics