Comparing Online and Offline Political Participation: Revisiting Key Debates in a Socially Networked Era Shelley Boulianne (with Yannis Theocharis and Karolina Koc-Michalska) sjboulianne@gmail.com Twitter: @drboulianne

Overview of Presentation Discursive Engagement Canadian Election Study Participatory inequality Political discussion as a gateway Summary Social media & political participation (and digitally networked participation) offer a distinctive story What is online participation? Methodological meta- analysis of current measures Key debates Proposed typology/taxonomy Institutionalized, protest, community participation etc. Digitally networked participation

What is online participation?

What is online participation? Analysis of 50+ studies on “participation” Most studies combine multiple measures into a single aggregate measure Focus on discursive activities* Survey questions with MOST frequent listed first 1 Contact government official or political candidate* 2 Sign online or email petitions 3 Donate to a campaign or political cause 4 Visit campaign websites & search for political information 5 Sign up to volunteer/did online volunteer work for a campaign 6 Sent a political message via email/text/messaging service to family and friends* 7 Create or been involved in online political or civic group 8 Persuade others to participate/vote/change political views* 9 Participate in online discussion about politics or news* 10 Organize or been involved in online protest/boycott 11 Contact newspaper editors online*

What is online participation? Potential Problems: Inclusion of passive activities, such as info searching vs. classic definitions of political participation - attempt to influence (Verba & Nie, 1972)

What is online participation? Potential Problems: Combining civic and political activities Donating to campaigns vs. charities

What is online participation? Potential Problems: Combining institutionalized and non-institutionalized activities Signing petitions is combined with donating to campaigns

What is online participation? Key debates: Which online political activities constitute political participation? Are online political activities distinctive from their offline counterparts? Should dimensions (classes/factors) of participation distinguish between online and offline activities?

What is online participation? Key debates: Are Web 1.0 political activities distinct from Web 2.0 (or socially networked) activities?

What is online participation? Key debates: Should there be a continuum or participatory ladder within each dimension (class/factor) of participation?

Proposed typology Gibson & Cantijoch (2013) typology

Proposed typology Types of participation: Voting Consumerist participation (boycotting/buycotting) Institutionalized participation Community participation Protest participation Digitally networked participation

Proposed typology Types of participation: Voting Consumerist participation (boycotting/buycotting)

Proposed typology Types of participation: Institutionalized participation, such as Donating online to a political party or campaign Donating offline to a political party or campaign Encourage others (offline) to donate to… Encourage others (online or social media) to donate to…

Proposed typology/ Types of participation: Community participation, such as Donating online to a non-profit/charity Donating offline to a non-profit/charity Encourage others (offline) to donate to… Encourage others (online or social media) to donate to…

Proposed typology Types of participation: Protest participation, such as Signed a petition in paper Signed an online petition Encouraged others to… Participated in a march or street demonstration Participate in a strike

Proposed typology Types of participation: Digitally networked participation, such as Shared/retweeted a political post from your friends/political party/political group Commented on a political post from your friends/political party/political group Joined on social media a special group that is defending a social or political cause

Discursive Engagement

Discursive Engagement Political discussion is important, because It is a gateway activity/first step on the participatory ladder Widely accessible and popular (Deliberative) talk important to identifying one’s political preferences/interests

Discursive Engagement Political discussion is used to illustrate Trade-offs of combining activities across modes in terms of participatory inequality How different modes have different impacts on more intense forms of participation

Discursive Engagement CANADA Canadian Election Study, Post-election survey 2015 In the past 12 months, 52% of respondents spoke in person about a public issue with someone you know 67% of respondents said they used social media at least one day in the past week Of social media users, 40% of respondents used social media to discuss political or public issues with people you do know

Discursive Engagement CANADA Findings Largest groups: do not talk in either mode (n=1045) and talk in both modes (n=926)  CANADA n=4169 Do not use social media Use social media, but never talk politics on social media Use social media and talk politics at least once Never talk politics offline n=766 n=1045 n=187 At least once talk politics offline n=604 n=615 n=926  

Discursive Engagement CANADA Findings Gender and age-based differences in modes of political discussion   Offline political discussion Do NOT use social media Social media political discussion  Direction Sign Direction  Sign  Female=1 Positive ** Negative *** ns Age Education Political interest

Discursive Engagement CANADA Findings Political discussion on social media has strong effects on petitions & marches Stronger than offline discussion Significant selection effects Partial Correlations vote petition march Offline talk .045** .244*** .188*** Non-user ns Negative*** Social media talk .038* .335*** .290***

Discursive Engagement FRANCE France survey, April 2017, n=1500 In the past 12 months, 86% of respondents talked offline about political issues 75% of respondents said they have a social media account (Facebook or Twitter) Of social media users, 34% of respondents used social media to talk about political issues

Discursive Engagement FRANCE Findings Largest group: do not use social media & talk politics offline (n=1149)  France, n=1500 Do not use social media Use social media, but never talk politics on social media Use social media and talk politics at least once Never talk politics offline n=376 n=131 n=16 At least once talk politics offline n=1149 n=630 n=372  

Discursive Engagement FRANCE Findings Gender and age-based differences in modes of political discussion   Offline political discussion Do not use social media Social media political discussion  Direction Sign Direction  Sign  Female=1 Positive * ns Negative Age ** *** Education Political interest

Discursive Engagement FRANCE Findings Political discussion on social media has strong effects on petitions & marches; stronger than offline discussion Partial Correlations vote petition march Offline talk .089** .101*** .076** Non-user ns Negative** Social media talk .030 .326*** .298***

Discursive Engagement BOTH Summary across two countries Gender and age-based differences in modes of political discussion   Offline political discussion Do not use social media Social media political discussion  Direction Direction  Female=1 Women more likely to talk politics offline Age Older people more likely to be non-users Younger people more likely to talk politics on social media

Discursive Engagement BOTH Summary across two countries Political discussion on social media has strong effects on petitions & marches; stronger than offline discussion, controlling for gender, age, education, and political interest Partial Correlations vote petition march Offline talk Non-user Social media talk Partial correlation of approx. .33*** Partial correlation of approx. .29***

Discursive Engagement BOTH Discussion Combining modes blurs the gender and age-based differences in modes of political discussion Political discussion is a gateway for all activities Mode of discussion matters. Social media discussion is important for protest participation (petitions, marches).

Summary of Presentation Discursive Engagement Gender and age-based participatory inequality Strong correlation of social media discussion & petitions/marches Summary Social media offers a distinct story about participation What is online participation? Tendency to aggregate into a single measure Focus on discursive activities Proposed typology/taxonomy Blur modes of participation for some dimensions Digitally networked participation is distinct