Deliberative Democracy in the Networked Public Sphere: Using Social Media to Talk Politics

Abstract

Online discussions about politics are commonplace, and could play a large role in the deliberative process that is crucial to the healthy functioning of democracy. Assailed as inferior, dysfunctional, and distracting, these discussions are made possible by the invention and adoption of new information communication technologies, and questions often arise regarding how the uses of such technologies affect the way in which political deliberation is undertaken. I look at these questions through the lens of public sphere theory, focusing on how political discussion on social media platforms such as Reddit and Facebook adheres to the norms of ideal democratic deliberation. I advocate for the development of new methods which take into consideration the complexity of overlapping networks of digital communication technologies.