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Abstract
As news organizations look toward social networking sites as a way to expand their audience, the present article explores how this trend might impact discussion among users of political news content. A content analysis of user comments left by readers of the Washington Post suggests that when it comes to discussing political news, there are significant differences in the deliberative quality of those who access the news directly through the news organization's Web site and those who access the same news via Facebook. In short, comments left by Web site users exhibited greater deliberative quality than those left by Facebook users.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank Kathryn Simpson for her assistance during the coding process and Jennifer Stromer-Galley for her useful insights throughout.
Funding
This work was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/I902767/1].
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Ian Rowe
Ian Rowe (M.A., University of Kent) is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Politics at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. His research interests include social media, deliberation, and political participation.