The citizen marketer : promoting political opinion in the social media age

265 Pages·2017·1.74 MB·English

by  Penney

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The Citizen Marketer
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Oxford Studies in Digital Politics
Series Editor: Andrew Chadwick, Royal Holloway, University of London
Using Technology, Building Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting
Democracy: Digital Campaigning and of Networked Politics from Howard
the Construction of Citizenship Dean to Barack Obama
Jessica Baldwin- Philippi Daniel Kreiss
Expect Us: Online Communities and Bits and Atoms: Information and
Political Mobilization Communication Technology in Areas of
Jessica L. Beyer Limited Statehood
Steven Livingston and Gregor
The Hybrid Media System: Politics
Walter- Drop
and Power
Andrew Chadwick Digital Cities: The Internet and the
Geography of Opportunity
Tweeting to Power: The Social Media
Karen Mossberger, Caroline J.
Revolution in American Politics
Tolbert, and William W. Franko
Jason Gainous and
Kevin M. Wagner Revolution Stalled: The Political Limits
of the Internet in the Post- Soviet Sphere
Risk and Hyperconnectivity: Media and
Sarah Oates
Memories of Neoliberalism
Andrew Hoskins and John Tulloch Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State
in the Digital Age
The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and
Taylor Owen
Democracy: Information Technology
and Political Islam Affective Publics: Sentiment,
Philip N. Howard Technology, and Politics
Zizi Papacharissi
Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital
Media and the Arab Spring Presidential Campaigning in
Philip N. Howard and the Internet Age
Muzammil M. Hussain Jennifer Stromer- Galley
Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and News on the Internet: Information and
the New Political Strategy Citizenship in the 21st Century
David Karpf David Tewksbury and Jason
Rittenberg
The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected
Transformation of American Political The Civic Organization and the Digital
Advocacy Citizen: Communicating Engagement in
David Karpf a Networked Age
Chris Wells
Prototype Politics: Technology- Intensive
Campaigning and the Data of Networked Publics and Digital
Democracy Contention: The Politics of Everyday
Daniel Kreiss Life in Tunisia
Mohamed Zayani
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The Citizen Marketer
PROMOTING POLITICAL OPINION IN
THE SOCIAL MEDIA AGE
JOEL PENNEY
1
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1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
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Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
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© Oxford University Press 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
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You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Penney, Joel, author.
Title: The citizen marketer : promoting political opinion in the social media
age / Joel Penney.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2017. |
Series: Oxford studies in digital politics |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2016047946 (print) | LCCN 2017012226 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190658076 (Updf) | ISBN 9780190658083 (ePub) |
ISBN 9780190658090 (online) | ISBN 9780190658052 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190658069 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Political participation—Technological innovations. |
Communication in politics—Technological innovations. |
Social media—Political aspects. | Marketing—Political aspects. |
Public opinion—Political aspects. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies.
Classification: LCC JF799.5 (ebook) | LCC JF799.5 .P46 2017 (print)
DDC 324.7/3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016047946
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printed by Webcom, Inc., Canada
Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
v
To my parents and grandparents, for teaching me the value of books
and putting a pen in my hand
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. The Citizen Marketer Approach to Political Action 1
2. The Historical Lineage of the Citizen Marketer 39
3. Self- Labeled and Visible Identities 67
4. Political Fans and Cheerleaders 97
5. News Spreaders and Agenda Setters 131
6. Toward a Critical Literacy of the Citizen Marketer Approach 159
Methodological Appendix 189
Notes 201
References 225
Index 235
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Acknowledgments
This book is the culmination of more than eight years of writing and research,
and it would not have been possible without many wonderful colleagues and
friends who have helped me along the way. First, I owe an immeasurable debt to
Barbie Zelizer, my graduate advisor, who first encouraged me to explore citizen
political expression at a time when my scholarly interests were varied, to say the
least. I vividly remember the day when I sat in her office discussing my fasci-
nation with graphic T- shirts, and she urged me to focus on the political ones,
since those would likely be the most interesting to study. Thus began a long and
winding journey that took me from photoethnography projects at presidential
campaign rallies to the wide and complex world of political social media, result-
ing in the constellation of research featured in this book. Not only did she inspire
my intellectual pursuits for years to come, but also she taught me to be a better
writer, line by line, as few others could.
I must also extend a deep-h earted thanks to my editor, Andrew Chadwick,
who believed in this project from the get- go and committed to its long- term
development at Oxford University Press. His invaluable advice and direction
helped transform a rough early draft into the polished final product that you
now hold in your hands. In addition, my acquisitions editor at Oxford University
Press, Angela Chnapko, was incredibly helpful throughout the process, and I’m
forever thankful for the time and energy she put into making it all happen.
While working on this book, I was fortunate to have the support of my amaz-
ing colleagues at the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State
University. Thank you to Harry Haines, Hugh Curnutt, Christopher McKinley,
Yi Luo, Todd Kelshaw, Marylou Naumoff, Christine Lemesianou, Merrill
Brown, Larry Weiner, Vanessa Domine, Marc Rosenweig, David Sanders,
Beverly Peterson, Kelly Whiteside, Tara George, Tom Franklin, Patricia Piroh,
Tony Pemberton, Roberta Friedman, Susan Skoog, Lise Raven, Steve McCarthy,
Stephanie Wood, and Janet Wilson.
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