Yu‐jui Chen and Pin‐yu Chu
Adapting the content analysis method, this study uses the six strategies, i. e., daily information‐sharing, emphasis on personal characteristics, endorsement, mobilization and participation, opponent attack, and political information to analyze the thirty legislators’ Facebook pages.
In addition, the study goes on to probe the level of political communication and citizen participation within each category. According to the definition of e‐participation( Chu & Lee, 2009), and the concept of information flaw of public engagement( Rowe & Frewer, 2005), this study further classifies the degree of participation into three levels: e‐information, e‐consultation, and non‐participation, to investigate the level of citizen participation on the legislators’ Facebook pages. As shown in Table 2, e‐information means that legislators provide citizens with helpful information on public issues, and the direction of information flow is from the legislators to citizens only, i. e., one‐way communication. E‐consultation, on the other hand, means that legislators and citizens exchange information on public issues interactively, and the information flow is two‐way.
Table 2: The level of e‐participation Level of participation Definition The direction of information flow
e‐information
e‐consultation
Non‐participation
4. Research results
Legislators provide helpful information to citizen about public issues.
Legislators provide useful information to citizens, and offer the opportunity to discuss public affairs with citizens.
The information on Facebook, irrelevant to public issues or public affairs, only focuses on personal feelings.
In e‐information, information is conveyed from legislators to citizens only. In e‐consultation, legislators and citizens exchange information on public issues interactively, and the information flow is two‐way.
4.1 4.1 Demographics of legislators
According to web sites of the legislative Yuan in Taiwan( http:// www. ly. gov. tw /), we get the demographics of our research targets. The mean age for the legislators is 52.8. There are more male legislators( 73 %) than female legislators( 27 %), indicating our targets are most formed with male. Ninety‐seven percent of the surveyed legislators have completed college or higher degrees, only Lin, Te‐Fu without the degree of college. Our research targets cover twenty legislators from KMT and ten legislators from DPP, the two major political parties in Taiwan.
4.2 Strategies and patterns used on Facebook
We totally analyze 1,526 Facebook posts in the election periods, and 897 Facebook posts in the regular sessions. As shown in Table 3, the average Facebook post per legislator in the regular legislative sessions is 29.9, and 50.86 in the election periods. The findings show that political information, with the average post per legislator 16.83( 56 %), and daily information sharing, with the average post per legislator 10.17( 34 %), are the most frequently used strategies on legislators’ Facebook pages in regular legislative sessions. Moreover, the main strategies of legislators ' Facebook pages are consistent throughout the regular sessions and the election periods. Political information, with the average post per legislator 17.33( 34 %), and daily information sharing, with the average post per legislator 14.23( 28 %), are also the most frequently used strategies on legislators’ Facebook pages in the election periods. The main strategic difference comes from the usage of“ endorsement, with the average post per legislator 4.3( 9 %)” and“ mobilization and participation, with the average post per legislator 6.8( 13 %).”
It is worth noting that previous studies indicate that opponent attack is one of main strategies during elections( Birchard, 2006; Trammell et al., 2006; Wang, 2009), however, our results identify a different scenario. The opponent attacking strategy, with the average post per legislator during the regular legislative session 2.27( 8 %), and with the average post per legislator in the election sessions 4.4( 9 %), is restrictedly used by legislators.
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