INTEREST GROUPS, ADVOCACY AND DEMOCRACY SERIES Winner of the American Political Science Association Information Technology and Politics Section Best Dissertation Award, 2017 Beyond Slacktivism Political Participation on Social Media James Dennis Interest Groups, Advocacy and Democracy Series Series Editor Darren Halpin Research School of Social Sciences Australian National University Canberra, Australia The study of interest groups and their role in political life has under- gone somewhat of a renaissance in recent years. Long standing scholarly themes such as interest groups influence mobilization, formation, and ‘bias’, are being addressed using new and novel data sets and methods. There are also new and exciting themes, such as the role of ICTs in ena- bling collective action and the growth of global advocacy networks, are being added. Contemporary debates about the role of commercial lob- byists and professionalized interest representation are also highly salient. Together, they draw an ever larger and broader constituency to the study of interest groups and advocacy. This series seeks to capture both new generation studies addressing long standing themes in new ways and innovate scholarship posing new and challenging questions that emerge in a rapidly changing world. The series encourages contributions from political science (but also abutting disciplines such as economics, law, his- tory, international relations and sociology) that speak to these themes. It welcomes work undertaken at the level of sub-national, national and supra-national political systems, and particularly encourages comparative or longitudinal studies. The series is open to diverse methodologies and theoretical approaches. The book series will sit alongside and comple- ment the Interest Groups & Advocacy journal. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14850 James Dennis Beyond Slacktivism Political Participation on Social Media James Dennis Film, Media and Communication University of Portsmouth Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK Interest Groups, Advocacy and Democracy Series ISBN 978-3-030-00843-7 ISBN 978-3-030-00844-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00844-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018956584 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover image: “Lighting a match” Cover credit: Matthew Elliott Cover design by Laura de Grasse This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland For Mum. Thank you for always being there. A cknowledgements This book has benefited from the efforts of many people. I thank all those who dedicated their time to this study, including the staff and members of 38 Degrees and the participants who devoted three months of their life to the diary project. I am also incredibly grateful for the steadfast support from the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan, in par- ticular, Ambra Finotello and Katelyn Zingg. They made the seemingly insurmountable task of writing my first book manageable. I am indebted to a number of academic friends and colleagues who have given their valuable time to offer feedback on various parts of this book as it has developed, in particular Nicholas Allen, Nick Anstead, Andrew Chadwick, Angela Crack, Martin Hampton, Dan Jackson, Wolfram Kaiser, Anastasia Kavada, Milan Kreuschitz-Markovič, Ben O’Loughlin, Zizi Papacharissi, Nora Siklodi, James Sloam, Amy P. Smith, Cristian Vaccari, Ariadne Vromen, Andrew Waterman, Ellen Watts, and Mundo Yang. A special note of thanks must go to Matthew Elliott, who took the excellent cover photo for the book and who kept me entertained throughout the writing process with a constant stream of memes and music suggestions. My work has benefited tremendously from the vibrant research envi- ronment within the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway and the School of Film, Media and Communication at the University of Portsmouth. I am particularly grateful to my sub- ject area leads, Claire Perry and Mary Williams, for their encouragement throughout this process. Both institutions have also provided invaluable vii viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS financial assistance to this project. The research phase for this book was funded by a Ph.D. studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council [Ref: 1094169]. The writing phase was supported by the Transnational Civil Society project at the University of Portsmouth. A colleague recently told me that it is unprofessional to list your friends in the acknowledgements section of an academic monograph, but the patience required to tolerate hours-upon-hours of me com- plaining about Derby County or making obscure Pokémon references requires heartfelt thanks: Jack Alexander, Jack Bennett, Jenny Bennett, Matthew Benstead, Oliver Booth, William Brotherhood, Sean Coxhead, Kris Dennis, James Hare, Dida Markovič, Alex Matusiak, Caroline Rennie, Charlotte Richards, Olivia Rutazibwa, Naudia Salmon, William Whitehall, Naomi Whiteside, Luke Willis, Becca Woollgar, Geoff Woollgar, and Charli Wright. I am especially indebted to my family and my partner, Susana. Their love, support, and faith in me have been unwavering. I acknowledge that some of the material presented in Chapter 4 appears in Andrew Chadwick and James Dennis (2017), “Social Media, Professional Media, and Mobilization in Contemporary Britain: Explaining the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Citizens’ Movement, 38 Degrees,” Political Studies, 65(1), 42–60. I also thank the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism for giving permission to use data from the excellent Digital News Project for Chapter 7. Finally, this book is dedicated to my Mum, Ali Bates. As a single par- ent of a working-class family, she sacrificed so much to ensure that my brother and I had every chance to succeed in our lives. I cannot thank her enough for everything that she has done for me. c ontents 1 “It’s Better to Light a Candle Than to Fantasise About a Sun” 1 2 #stopslacktivism: Why Clicks, Likes, and Shares Matter 25 3 Operationalising the Continuum of Participation 71 4 People. Power. Change. 38 Degrees and Digital Micro-Activism on Social Media 95 5 An Informed Public? News Consumption on Social Media 123 6 Civic Instigators, Contributors, and Listeners: Political Expression on Social Media 153 7 Conclusion: The Candle Burns Bright 185 Research Appendix 207 ix x CONTENTS Bibliography 227 Index 251