Sean Smith

My role this summer in the Congressional Twitter Research Project with Heather Evans, Ph.D., was to code approximately 20,000 tweets from candidates for the House of Representatives in October 2014. This task was essential to completing the data set we will use to analyze political behavior on Twitter. I, along with my colleagues, will further our understanding of modern political behavior through our continued research and analysis by writing a research article based on our findings.

Throughout the summer, I coded the tweets from candidates running in Michigan through Texas. By reading and categorizing these tweets, I was able to gain perspective on how politicians (or future/hopeful politicians) act on Twitter and how they use it as a campaign tool.

Along with differences between states, I also observed the variations in tweeting style by political party. This was a particularly interesting aspect to study because, in many cases, the attitudes of candidates from different political parties are vastly different.

Another interesting aspect I found during my research was the negativity some candidates displayed towards their opponents. This attitude is often vastly different than the way candidates behave in person, on tv or at campaign events. Noting these aspects of how candidates use Twitter will further my understanding of political behaviors as I seek to become a political journalist.

Researching political attitudes on Twitter has developed my professional skills in political journalism because it has shown me the way congressional candidates are using new media as campaign assets. Many journalists will likely observe a candidate on Twitter one tweet at a time, as opposed to looking at his or her set of tweets as a whole to see how they behave. Given this in depth understanding of politics on Twitter, I can further my professional skills in comprehending a politician’s actions on Twitter as I cover future campaigns. This will give me an advantage when it comes to finding a job and reporting on the stories to which I am assigned.

Once we have completed the research article, the possibility of having work published from this project will also benefit my ability to find and complete jobs in professional journalism. This will show the diverse writing skills I have acquired during my undergraduate career and my drive to work on projects outside of my degree plan.

Being a mass communication major, this project has provided an eye-opening experience to how research – even outside one’s major track – can create a more well-rounded student with a better understanding of topics remaining in the degree plan. I look forward to my final few semesters of undergraduate courses following this research project.