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Attention and amplification in the hybrid media system: The composition and activity of Donald Trump’s Twitter following during the 2016 presidential election
Abstract
Building on studies of the hybrid media system and attention economy, we develop the concept of amplification to explore how the activities of social media–based publics may enlarge the attention paid to a given person or message. We apply the concept to the 2016 US election, asking who constituted Donald Trump’s enormous Twitter following and how that following contributed to his success at attracting attention, including from the mainstream press. Using spectral clustering based on social network similarity, we identify key publics that constituted Trump’s Twitter following and demonstrate how particular publics amplified his social media presence in different ways. Our discussion raises questions about how algorithms “read” metrics to guide content on social media platforms, how journalists draw on social media metrics in their determinations of news value and worthiness, and how the process of amplification relates to possibilities of citizen action through digital communication.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, Y., Wells, C., Wang, S., & Rohe, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Yini
- Venue
- New Media & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-12-04
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3161-3182
- ISSN
- 1461-4448 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7315
- OpenAlex
- W2773019705
- Cited by
- 155
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 33.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- New Media & Society (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Communication › News Media Framing and Political Communication
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- Donald Trump, Twitter followers, amplification, hybrid media system, attention economy, 2016 US presidential election, spectral clustering, social media metrics, news values, algorithmic curation, civic action
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