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Abstract
Communication theorists have long presumed that the capacity of mass media was essentially fixed. This study investigates the relevance of this assumption in the digital environment, where production and broadcasting capacities have become nearly infinite. Examining 2 years of data from Twitter and electronic databases of news articles revealed some differences in the nature of constraint in the two environments. The daily volume of Twitter was more variable than online news coverage once cyclical factors were controlled. Interestingly, the volume of Twitter did not always increase in response to key events.
Notes
1This meant that keyword presence was, by definition, closely related to coverage of events in online traditional media. This is not an instance of selecting on the dependent variable, however, as it is not necessarily the case that the overall volume of coverage will relate to the volume of events within that coverage.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
S. Mo Jang
S. Mo Jang (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2014) is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at University of South Carolina. His research interests include big data analysis on social media and public opinion about political and science issues.
Josh Pasek
Josh Pasek (Ph.D., Stanford University, 2011) is an assistant professor in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. His research explores how new media and psychological processes each shape political attitudes, public opinion, and political behaviors.