Conversaciones políticas en Facebook. Explorando el papel de la homofilia en la argumentación y la interacción comunicativa

Lidia  Valera-Ordaz; Dafne  Calvo; Guillermo  López-García

doi:10.4185/RLCS-2018-1245

Authors

Lidia Valera-Ordaz University of Valencia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1085-980X
Dafne Calvo University of Valladolid https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0659-6792
Guillermo López-García University of Valencia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5701-2024

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2018-1245

Keywords:

Facebook, Online political conversation, Homophily, Argument, Reciprocity, Digital public sphere

Abstract

Research on online political talk has been overwhelmingly influenced by deliberative theory, as a result of the big hopes originally placed on the Internet capacity to revolutionize politics. However, two decades of empirical research point out that these informal communicative interactions hardly resemble deliberative ideals. In this study, we explore if Facebook contributors who share ideological stances are more likely to a) justify their points of view and b) interact with each other. We apply content analysis to a sample of 2,800 comments published on the Facebook walls of the four mayor Spanish political parties during General Election campaign 2015. Findings show that homophily is negatively related to both argumentation and interaction. It is the outsiders who are much more likely to reason their opinions, while it is those who hold neutral views who are more inclined towards interaction .

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Author Biographies

Lidia Valera-Ordaz, University of Valencia

Lidia Valera-Ordaz holds a PhD in Communication (University of Valencia, 2014) and specializes in social research and data analysis techniques (CIS, 2015). She is currently working as postdoctoral researcher, conducting research for “Frame Building and Frame Sponsorship concerning Catalonia’s Independence: A Comparative Analysis of Catalan, Spanish and U.S. Newspapers”, a joint project between the University of Valencia and Suffolk University (Boston, MA). Her research lies in the field of political communication, the sociology of communication, and public opinion. She has published more than 10 articles in indexed scientific journals, such as Communication & Society or Revista Internacional de Sociología, and has attended numerous national and international conferences. Moreover, since 2011 she has participated in various R&D projects financed by the Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competitiveness. She has conducted research abroad in French and American institutions (Sciences-Po, Boston College and Paris University 8) and teaches courses in the BA in Journalism at the University of Valencia.

H-index: 6

Dafne Calvo, University of Valladolid

Dafne Calvo holds a master’s degree in Communication Research and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Valladolid. During her studies she twice received the honor of Premio Extraordinario (Special Award, 2010/2014 and 2014/2015) from the University. She has served as visiting professor at the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla (Mexico) and she has worked on many R&D Projects at the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Valencia. She collaborates with the Recognized Research Group New Trends in Communication (NUTECO) and is part of the Reflection and Study Group for Online Communication (GRECO). She is currently working on her doctoral thesis in Communication on online political participation and social media.

H-index: 2

Guillermo López-García, University of Valencia

Guillermo López-García holds a PhD in Audiovisual Communication (2002) from the University of Valencia, where he has served as Associate Professor of Journalism since 2008. Most of his research focuses on political and online communication. He coordinated the R&D Group Mediaflows, financed by Spain’s Ministry for the Economy and Innovation, during its 2014-2016 project (CSO2013-43960-R) and currently continues to do so for the 2017-2020 project (CSO2016-77331-C2-1-R). This project, fruit of the convergence of the two aforementioned research areas, focused on the analysis of communication flows among political parties, the media and citizens in processes of political mobilization. He also directs the Valencian Digital Media Research Group, which has developed three pioneer research projects on mapping digital media in the Valencian Community. Every year since 2009, he has coordinated a Conference on new trends in digital communication, and he heads the academic journal Dígitos, founded in 2015. He has authored or edited 12 books and numerous articles and book chapters in various scientific publications. He has served as visiting researcher in the universities of Virginia, Mainz, Paris 8 and Paris 12, the Austral University of Chile and the National University of Cordoba, and as visiting professor in master’s and PhD courses at the University of Miguel Hernández in Elche (Valencia), the Jaume I University, the University of Zaragoza, the University of Playa Ancha (Chile), the University of La Frontera (Chile), Universidad Modelo (Mexico), the Federal University of Bahia (Brazil) and the National University of Cordoba (Argentina). Regarding his professional experience in the media, Lopez has co-edited the website La Página Definitiva since 2000. He works with various media outlets, including the daily Levante-EMV, for which he is a weekly columnist. Lastly, since 2015 he has directed and hosted a weekly television program called Halcones y palomas, which focuses on current politics and is broadcast on Levante TV, a channel in the greater metropolitan area of Valencia.

H-index: 16

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