Social media network homophily among political candidates in multilevel settings
- Author
- Hilde Coffé, Iulia Cioroianu and Maxime Vandenberghe (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Our study investigates political candidates' networks in the multilevel political setting of Belgium. Using Twitter data collected during the four months preceding the May 2019 regional, federal and European elections, we examine the extent to which network homophily - defined as the tendency to interact with similar others - occurs among political candidates along parliament, language and party lines. Relying on a unique dataset of 20 061 retweets between 935 candidates, we find that network interactions are most likely to occur among co-partisans and candidates speaking the same language. Candidates campaigning for the same parliament also tend to retweet among each other, although this tendency is not strong. Overall, the findings confirm the strong divide of Belgian politics along language lines and Belgium's 'partitocracy' in which parties are the main actors in the representation and policy-making process.
- Keywords
- Political Science and International Relations, Geography, Planning and Development, Social media networks, multilevel settings, political candidates, Belgium, TWITTER, COMMUNICATION, FEDERALISM, CAMPAIGNS, PATTERNS
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8764995
- MLA
- Coffé, Hilde, et al. “Social Media Network Homophily among Political Candidates in Multilevel Settings.” REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES, vol. 34, no. 3, 2024, pp. 357–77, doi:10.1080/13597566.2022.2107632.
- APA
- Coffé, H., Cioroianu, I., & Vandenberghe, M. (2024). Social media network homophily among political candidates in multilevel settings. REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES, 34(3), 357–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2022.2107632
- Chicago author-date
- Coffé, Hilde, Iulia Cioroianu, and Maxime Vandenberghe. 2024. “Social Media Network Homophily among Political Candidates in Multilevel Settings.” REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES 34 (3): 357–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2022.2107632.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Coffé, Hilde, Iulia Cioroianu, and Maxime Vandenberghe. 2024. “Social Media Network Homophily among Political Candidates in Multilevel Settings.” REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES 34 (3): 357–377. doi:10.1080/13597566.2022.2107632.
- Vancouver
- 1.Coffé H, Cioroianu I, Vandenberghe M. Social media network homophily among political candidates in multilevel settings. REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES. 2024;34(3):357–77.
- IEEE
- [1]H. Coffé, I. Cioroianu, and M. Vandenberghe, “Social media network homophily among political candidates in multilevel settings,” REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 357–377, 2024.
@article{8764995,
abstract = {{Our study investigates political candidates' networks in the multilevel political setting of Belgium. Using Twitter data collected during the four months preceding the May 2019 regional, federal and European elections, we examine the extent to which network homophily - defined as the tendency to interact with similar others - occurs among political candidates along parliament, language and party lines. Relying on a unique dataset of 20 061 retweets between 935 candidates, we find that network interactions are most likely to occur among co-partisans and candidates speaking the same language. Candidates campaigning for the same parliament also tend to retweet among each other, although this tendency is not strong. Overall, the findings confirm the strong divide of Belgian politics along language lines and Belgium's 'partitocracy' in which parties are the main actors in the representation and policy-making process.}},
author = {{Coffé, Hilde and Cioroianu, Iulia and Vandenberghe, Maxime}},
issn = {{1359-7566}},
journal = {{REGIONAL AND FEDERAL STUDIES}},
keywords = {{Political Science and International Relations,Geography,Planning and Development,Social media networks,multilevel settings,political candidates,Belgium,TWITTER,COMMUNICATION,FEDERALISM,CAMPAIGNS,PATTERNS}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{357--377}},
title = {{Social media network homophily among political candidates in multilevel settings}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2022.2107632}},
volume = {{34}},
year = {{2024}},
}
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