From Mass Media to Social Media: Political Persuasion in the Field of Communication

This chapter provides an overview of research on political persuasion in the field of communication. It begins with a summary of the four traditional phases of classic media effects research. It then reviews current debates about the effects of social media, describing the two main strands of studies that have provided evidence for and against the alleged contribution of these platforms to political polarization. Throughout the chapter, we emphasize that media effects research has typically revolved around the persuasion dimension of attitude change, although more recent studies have mainly focused on reinforcement. The chapter also includes three suggestions for future work: extending research on narrative persuasion to the realm of social media, investigating the persuasive impact of entertainment-oriented use and content on these platforms in more detail, and introducing a holistic approach to persuasion to better understand how the different dimensions of this phenomenon are interrelated and complementary.