{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]],"date-time":"2025-12-18T14:20:42Z","timestamp":1766067642157,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]],"date-time":"2022-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1668643200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["AJIM"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>Social media have become the main channel of direct communication between members of parliament and constituents. The study analyzes the content in all Israeli MPs' Facebook channels throughout an entire term of parliament and asks if the results are consistent with the equalization or the normalization hypotheses.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study uses automatic analysis to produce a birds-eye-view of the content uploaded to the Facebook pages of all Israeli MPs during a full term of parliament. All 106 MP pages were automatically scraped. Some complementary information was added to each post in the dataset, such as post length (number of words) and whether the page belongs to a member of the opposition or coalition. The\u00a0total of 441,974 posts was analyzed to compare engagement and publication rates between pages, coalition vs opposition MPs, MPs vs users etc.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The findings demonstrate that the MP-Facebook sphere is non-egalitarian, in that it follows skewed distributions by MPs in terms of post publication and engagement rates; non-inclusive, in that pages of coalition members receive significantly much more engagement vis-a-vis pages of members of the oppositions; and \u201ctop-down\u201d, in that MP-authored posts receive dramatically more engagement then user-authored posts, suggesting MPs have a near-monopoly on setting the agendas manifest in their pages, while users have extremely limited agenda-setting capabilities in these pages.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>Previous studies have looked at the character of the interactions between MPs and constituents on the Internet and particularly on online social media. Yet, to the best of the authors\u2019 knowledge, no study provides a birds-eye-view of the content in all MPs' Facebook channels throughout a full term of parliament. Such an analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the character and dynamics of conversations that take place in such arenas.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/ajim-07-2022-0324","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,16]],"date-time":"2022-11-16T15:55:07Z","timestamp":1668614107000},"page":"1-15","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["A big-data analysis of the communication patterns of\u00a0parliament members with the\u00a0public on Facebook: top-down, non-inclusive and non-egalitarian"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"76","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7857-6059","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nili","family":"Steinfeld","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0248-9802","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Azi","family":"Lev-On","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1080\/13645579.2013.774179","article-title":"Hyperlinks and networked communication: a comparative study of political parties online","volume":"16","year":"2013","journal-title":"International Journal of Social Research Methodology"},{"key":"key2023122213502308700_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Adamic, L. and Glance, N. (2005), \u201cThe political blogosphere and the 2004\u00a0US election: divided they blog\u201d, available at: www.blogpulse.com\/papers\/2005\/AdamicGlanceBlogWWW.pdf (accessed 27 July 2022).","DOI":"10.1145\/1134271.1134277"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2012.756050","article-title":"National politics on Twitter: structures and topics of a networked public sphere","volume":"16","year":"2013","journal-title":"Information, Communication and Society"},{"volume-title":"Linked: the New Science of Networks","year":"2002","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref004"},{"year":"1997","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref005","article-title":"From broadcast to Netcast: the internet and the flow of political information"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1177\/0032318714534106","article-title":"Face to Face(book): social media, political campaigning and the unbearable lightness of being there","volume":"66","year":"2014","journal-title":"Political Science"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"128","DOI":"10.29379\/jedem.v5i2.218","article-title":"The Five Stars Movement in the Italian political scenario: a case for cybercratic centralism?","volume":"5","year":"2013","journal-title":"JeDEM: eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government"},{"issue":"1-2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref008","first-page":"15","article-title":"The power and politics of blogs","volume":"134","year":"2008","journal-title":"Public Choice"},{"volume-title":"Web Campaigning","year":"2006","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref009"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"718","DOI":"10.1108\/OIR-08-2017-0247","article-title":"Is the equalization\/normalization lens dead? Social media campaigning in US congressional elections","volume":"42","year":"2018","journal-title":"Online Information Review"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1080\/10584609.2011.568042","article-title":"Do online election campaigns win votes? The 2007 Australian 'YouTube' election","volume":"28","year":"2011","journal-title":"Political Communication"},{"key":"key2023122213502308700_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9248.12107","article-title":"Normalizing or equalizing party competition? Assessing the impact of the web on election campaigning","volume":"63","year":"2015","journal-title":"Political Studies"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1177\/1081180X98003003003","article-title":"UK political parties and the Internet 'politics as usual' in the new media?","volume":"3","year":"1998","journal-title":"The Harvard International Journal of Press\/Politics"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1177\/0894439307305636","article-title":"Voters, MySpace and YouTube: the impact of alternative communication channels on the 2006 election cycle and beyond","volume":"26","year":"2008","journal-title":"Social Science Computer Review"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"206","DOI":"10.1080\/19331681.2014.895476","article-title":"Cyber-campaigning in Denmark: application and effects of candidate campaigning","volume":"11","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Information Technology and Politics"},{"year":"2003","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref016","article-title":"Googlearchy: how a few heavily-linked sites dominate politics on the web"},{"volume-title":"The Laws of the Web: Patterns in the Ecology of Information","year":"2001","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref017"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1080\/15377857.2011.588099","article-title":"Perception or reality: how MPs believe the Internet helps them win votes","volume":"10","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Political Marketing"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"561","DOI":"10.1080\/10584609.2020.1820648","article-title":"Mobilization vs demobilization discourses on social media","volume":"38","year":"2021","journal-title":"Political Communication"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"220","DOI":"10.1080\/19331681.2014.903217","article-title":"Online campaigning in France, 2007-2012: political actors and citizens in the aftermath of the web. 2.0 evolution","volume":"11","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Information Technology and Politics"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"331","DOI":"10.1177\/0267323116647236","article-title":"The normalization of online campaigning in the web. 2.0 era","volume":"31","year":"2016","journal-title":"European Journal of Communication"},{"issue":"6","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"653","DOI":"10.1177\/0267323114531383","article-title":"\u2018Of course we are on Facebook\u2019: use and non-use of social media among Swedish and Norwegian politicians","volume":"29","year":"2014","journal-title":"European Journal of Communication"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref023","article-title":"Triumph of the underdogs? Comparing Twitter use by political actors during two Norwegian election campaigns","volume":"4","year":"2014","journal-title":"SAGE Open"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref024","article-title":"Politicians online: identifying current research opportunities","volume":"19","year":"2014","journal-title":"First Monday"},{"article-title":"Campaigning online: use of the Internet by parties, candidates and voters in national and local election campaigns in Israel","volume-title":"Policy and Internet","year":"2011","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref049"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref050","first-page":"14","article-title":"Campaigning online, locally","volume":"5","year":"2014","journal-title":"International Journal of E-Politics"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref051","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"720","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444816669160","article-title":"Normalizing or equalizing? Characterizing Facebook campaigning","volume":"20","year":"2018","journal-title":"New Media and Society"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref047","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"299","DOI":"10.1016\/j.giq.2015.05.007","article-title":"Local engagement online: municipal Facebook pages as hubs of interaction","volume":"32","year":"2015","journal-title":"Government Information Quarterly"},{"first-page":"243","volume-title":"Social Media and Local Governments","year":"2016","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref046"},{"key":"key2023122213502308700_ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lilleker, D.G. and Vedel, T. (2013), \u201cThe Internet in campaigns and elections\u201d, in Dutton, W.H. (Ed), Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.\u00a0401-420.","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199589074.013.0019"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref052","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"445","DOI":"10.1080\/13537121.2011.584676","article-title":"MK websites and the personalization of Israeli politics","volume":"17","year":"2011","journal-title":"Israel Affairs"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref048","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.1108\/17506160810862928","article-title":"Towards an evaluation framework for eParticipation","volume":"2","year":"2008","journal-title":"Transforming Government: People Process and Policy"},{"year":"2016","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref053","article-title":"Annual Report: The Media in Israel 2015: Agendas, Uses and Trends"},{"key":"key2023122213502308700_ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Manning, N. (2015), Political (Dis)engagement: the Changing Nature of the \u201cPolitical\u201d, Policy Press, London.","DOI":"10.46692\/9781447317043"},{"volume-title":"Politics as Usual: the Cyberspace \u201cRevolution\u201d","year":"2000","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref027"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1017\/S0007123417000400","article-title":"Who gets into the papers? Party campaign messages and the media","volume":"50","year":"2020","journal-title":"British Journal of Political Science"},{"issue":"10","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1145\/1089107.1089138","article-title":"Why the Internet is bad for democracy","volume":"48","year":"2005","journal-title":"Communications of the ACM"},{"volume-title":"Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community","year":"2000","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref030"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref031","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.1177\/0163443714557983","article-title":"Facing up to Facebook: politicians, publics and the social media(ted) turn in New Zealand","volume":"37","year":"2015","journal-title":"Media, Culture and Society"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref032","article-title":"Equalization versus normalization: Facebook and the 2013 Israeli elections","volume":"1","year":"2015","journal-title":"Social Media+ Society"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref033","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"310","DOI":"10.1177\/0267323111423378","article-title":"Normalization 2.0: a longitudinal analysis of German online campaigns in the national elections 2002-9","volume":"26","year":"2011","journal-title":"European Journal of Communication"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref034","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1177\/1354068807083823","article-title":"Equal access, unequal success: major and minor Canadian parties on the net","volume":"14","year":"2008","journal-title":"Party Politics"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"573","DOI":"10.1080\/14683857.2018.1548140","article-title":"Inter-party competition on Facebook in a non-election period in Turkey: equalization or normalization?","volume":"18","year":"2018","journal-title":"Southeast European and Black Sea Studies"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/19331681.2014.972603","article-title":"Is Web 2.0 providing a voice for outsiders? A comparison of personal web site and social media use by candidates at the 2010\u00a0UK general election","volume":"12","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of Information Technology and Politics"},{"issue":"3-4","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref044","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"743","DOI":"10.1080\/13537121.2016.1174385","article-title":"The F-campaign: a discourse network analysis of party leaders\u2019 campaign statements on Facebook","volume":"22","year":"2016","journal-title":"Israel Affairs"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref045","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.4018\/ijepr.2015040102","article-title":"\u2018Well-done, Mr. Mayor!\u2019: linguistic analysis of municipal Facebook pages","volume":"4","year":"2015","journal-title":"International Journal of E-Planning Research"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref037","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"835","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444809105355","article-title":"Online campaigning: an opening for the outsiders? An analysis of Finnish parliamentary candidates' websites in the 2003 election campaign","volume":"11","year":"2009","journal-title":"New Media and Society"},{"journal-title":"The Guardian","article-title":"The Podemos revolution: how a peripheral group of radical academics changed European politics","year":"2015","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref038"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1057\/ap.2013.33","article-title":"When politics becomes news: an analysis of parliamentary questions and press coverage in three West European countries","volume":"50","year":"2015","journal-title":"Acta Politica"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"477","DOI":"10.1177\/1354068811407580","article-title":"Online social networks and micro-blogging in political campaigning: the exploration of a new campaign tool and a new campaign style","volume":"19","year":"2013","journal-title":"Party Politics"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"937","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2013.867356","article-title":"The Internet and new modes of political participation: online versus offline participation","volume":"17","year":"2014","journal-title":"Information, Communication and Society"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref042","first-page":"464","article-title":"Bibi and Mr. Prime Minister: do different Facebook identities imply different messages for political leaders?","volume":"36","year":"2022","journal-title":"Online Information Review"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2023122213502308700_ref043","article-title":"The users' point of view: towards a model of government information behavior on social media","volume":"8","year":"2022","journal-title":"Heliyon"}],"container-title":["Aslib Journal of Information Management"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/AJIM-07-2022-0324\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/AJIM-07-2022-0324\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T23:01:00Z","timestamp":1753398060000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/ajim\/article\/76\/1\/1-15\/1217062"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]},"references-count":53,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/AJIM-07-2022-0324"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/ajim-07-2022-0324","relation":{},"ISSN":["2050-3806"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"2050-3806"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]}}}