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Hillary Clinton's Political Campaign HILLARY CLINTON’S POLITICAL CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERACTIVE FACEBOOK WORLD _______________________________________________________________ A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri ______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts ______________________________________________________ by MEGAN SCHUMACHER Associate Professor Jon Stemmle, Thesis Supervisor DECEMBER 2017 The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled HILLARY CLINTON’S POLITICAL CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERACTIVE FACEBOOK WORLD presented by Megan Schumacher, a candidate for the degree of master of arts, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. ___________________________________________________________ Professor Jon Stemmle ___________________________________________________________ Professor Shelly Rodgers ___________________________________________________________ Professor Debra Mason ___________________________________________________________ Professor Ben Warner ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank several people for their help with the completion of this thesis. Thanks to Professor Jon Stemmle for serving as the chair of my thesis committee. He provided invaluable guidance, advice and expertise throughout the entire process, from proposal creation to defense. Dr. Shelly Rodgers provided needed and much- appreciated assistance with data analysis and statistical methods, for which I cannot thank her enough. I would also like to thank Dr. Debra Mason and Dr. Ben Warner for serving as members of my committee. Their thoughtful insights and input were essential to the successful completion of this thesis. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii List of Tables v Abstract vi Chapter 1. Introduction 1 2. Literature Review 5 Agenda Setting 5 Receive-Accept-Sample Model 8 Social Media and Elections 11 Facebook and Social Buttons 14 Engagement Tactics 15 3. Methodology 18 Content Analysis 18 Sampling Frame 19 Unit of Analysis 20 Coding Procedure & Scheme 21 Intracoder Reliability 21 Data Analysis 22 4. Results 23 5. Discussion 43 iii Limitations and Opportunities for Future Research 46 6. Conclusion 50 7. References 51 Appendix A. Coding Instructions 54 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Frequency of Different Types of Benoit’s Functional Approach 24 2. Frequency of Different Types of Aristotelian Rhetoric 24 3. Frequency of Different Types of Rhetorical Devices 25 4. Frequency of Different Types of Calls to Action 26 5. Frequency of Different Types of Policy Themes 26 6. Frequency of Different Types of Post Structures 27 7. Frequency of Different Types of Photo Content 28 8. Frequency of Different Types of Video Content 29 9. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Benoit’s Functional Approach 32 10. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Aristotelian Rhetoric 33 11. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Rhetorical Devices 34 12. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Calls to Action 36 13. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Policy Themes 37 14. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Post Structures 39 15. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Photo Content 40 16. Mean Interaction with Different Types of Video Content 42 v HILLARY CLINTON’S POLITICAL CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERACTIVE FACEBOOK WORLD Megan Schumacher Professor Jon Stemmle, Thesis Supervisor ABSTRACT This research uses content analysis to examine the role of social media in modern American political communication. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between different message strategies and level of engagement by focusing on Hillary Clinton’s Facebook posts between October 1, 2016, and November 7, 2016, just prior to the campaign election. Agenda-setting theory will be examined in relation to political campaigns’ increasing ability to engage voters directly via social media. The number of interactions via Facebook’s native buttons will provide a way to measure interactions. It’s important to know what message strategies are most effective on Facebook because the more interactions a post receives, the more widely that message has the potential to be distributed via newsfeeds. According to the receive-accept-sample model of information processing, exposure to a message can affect people’s opinions and behaviors, so future political campaigns could benefit from the current research by using its findings when determining message strategies. vi Chapter 1: Introduction Purpose of Study The purpose of this content analysis study is to examine the effect of different message strategies on the level of engagement on posts to Hillary Clinton’s Facebook page between October 1, 2016, and November 7, 2016, just prior to the campaign election. The independent variables are different message strategies, including varying content, structure and rhetorical tools, used by the Clinton campaign. The dependent variable, level of engagement, is defined as the number of interactions received via the native Facebook buttons of emoji reactions, comments and shares. The theory of agenda- setting will be examined in relation to social media and political campaigns, and the receive-accept-sample model of information processing will highlight the importance of audience engagement. Rationale As media have evolved, so have presidential election campaigns. From newspapers to radio to television to the digital age, candidates have had to adapt to the changing media landscape. Social media is the latest innovation to have an effect on candidates’ communication strategy. Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election campaign was unprecedented in its use of social media. Previous presidential candidates had used the internet to collect donations, but Obama was the first to harness the new opportunities provided by social media and use them to communicate directly with voters (Miller, 2008). 1 Obama wasn’t the first presidential candidate to break new ground in incorporating emerging media into campaign communication. Much like 2008’s race has been referred to as “the Facebook election,” the presidential election of 1924 is known as “the radio election.” Radio allowed presidential candidates to show and use their personalities, which helped Calvin Coolidge win votes and claim the presidency in 1924 (Gould, 2003). Radio became even more popular in the years that followed and was most famously used by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his fireside chats, which he used to create a bond between himself and the public (Impact and Legacy, n.d.). The world of presidential campaigns changed again in 1952. By that time, 18 million televisions had been sold, and there were 112 telecasting stations in 66 markets. That year, both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson used television to disseminate their messaging. The Republican National Committee even issued a guide titled ABC of Getting the Most Out of TV. In it, RNC’s Chairman Guy Gabrielson wrote, “Television's impact… will be so great that it must command our earnest attention as a political force” (Shaffer, 1955). The rise of the internet and social media has forced campaign planners to rethink how they fundraise and gain support for political candidates. By Election Day in 2008, Obama had millions of followers across multiple social media platforms. His campaign’s ability to organize and mobilize voters was unprecedented. Previous candidates, including Howard Dean in 2004, had tapped into the internet’s ability to help them collect many donations of small sums of money (Miller, 2008). But Obama understood that the web could be used to build a brand and engage with voters for a relatively low cost, while simultaneously giving voters the ability to organize get-out-the-vote efforts on his behalf (Carr, 2008). Carpenter (2010) describes Andrew Chadwick’s framework of 2 political engagement in the U.S. and how it is affected by the internet, including its ability to aide in discourse among citizens, enable citizens to disseminate informational content and knowledge, make data collection and aggregation easier and more important, and encourage experimentation and collaboration. Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was able to analyze the audiences it collected on various social media platforms and use that data to tailor messages to potential voters (Carpenter, 2010). As social media continue to evolve, candidates will be forced to critically evaluate their strategy and continuously adapt to changes in the social media landscape. This thesis will take a quantitative approach in exploring via content analysis the use and effectiveness of social media in modern political campaigns by focusing on Hillary Clinton’s use of Facebook in the 38 days preceding the 2016 presidential election and the amount of interaction that was prompted by different types of content and strategies. Similar research was done by Gerodimos and Justinussen (2015) for Obama’s 2012 Facebook campaign and can be used to show similarities and differences to the previous election cycle. Agenda-setting theory will be examined in relation to political campaigns’ increasing ability to reach voters directly via social media. The purpose of this research is to determine which message strategies used by the Clinton campaign in 2016 were the most successful in increasing engagement and number of interactions (as measured by number of emoji reactions, comments and shares) on Facebook.
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