1. General Online Research 2017
“Like of the same”? Facebook like-network of the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election
Justin Chun-ting Ho

2. Acknowledgement
This study is an extension of a project of the Inaugural CUHK Research Summit: Digital Methods and Social Development. I have received helpful input from Dr. Liang Hai, Prof. Jack Qiu and Prof. Richard Rogers. I also thank all the participants of the Research Summit for their helpful feedback.

3. Brief Overview of Hong Kong Politics
An (electoral) authoritarian regime
3 Factions: the Pro-governments the Pan-Democrats the Localist/Nativists

4. Research Question
Facebook has become a major platform for political communication and political mobilisation in Hong Kong (Chan, Chen and Lee, 2016; Lee, So and Leung, 2015; Tang and Lee, 2013; Chen, Chan and Lee, 2016; Lee and Chan 2015)
Homophilly and Echo Chamber
Research Question: Does the social media network of election candidates reflects the political faction in reality?

5. Data Collection
The page like-network among the Facebook pages of 78 candidates of the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election
Collected with NetVizz 1.31 in late-August 2016

8. Test Value (f(d)): 0.086***
Replications: 1000 p-value: 0

11. Test Value (f(d)):
Replications: 1000 p-value: 0.559

16. Limitations and Discussions
Difficulties in identifying the candidate’s political faction
Inconclusive results on Homophily
The bridging effect of the media

17. References
Chan, M., Chen, H. and Lee, F. (2016). Examining the roles of mobile and social media in political participation: A cross-national analysis of three Asian societies using a communication mediation approach. New Media & Society, 19(1), pp.1-19.
Chen, H., Chan, M. and Lee, F. (2016). Social media use and democratic engagement: a comparative study of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. Chinese Journal of Communication, 9(4), pp
Lee, F. and Chan, J. (2015). Digital media activities and mode of participation in a protest campaign: a study of the Umbrella Movement. Information, Communication & Society, 19(1), pp.4-22.
Lee, P., So, C. and Leung, L. (2015). Social media and Umbrella Movement: insurgent public sphere in formation. Chinese Journal of Communication, 8(4), pp
Tang, G. and Lee, F. (2013). Facebook Use and Political Participation: The Impact of Exposure to Shared Political Information, Connections With Public Political Actors, and Network Structural Heterogeneity. Social Science Computer Review, 31(6), pp