Tweeting for a Cause: Micro-Blogging and Environmental Advocacy
38 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2012 Last revised: 4 Jul 2014
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
This study examines how environmental organizations utilized the micro-blogging website Twitter to engage in political advocacy during the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Using a content analysis of tweets, blogs, email, and press releases, I demonstrate that groups responded more quickly to the disaster and offered more sustained attention to the spill on Twitter compared to the other media. While Twitter adds a new element to interest groups’ efforts to shape the policy process, I also show that groups used it to support their other online communications, suggesting that the medium should not be studied in isolation.
Keywords: Twitter, Internet, interest groups, environment, public policy, Gulf oil spill
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation