(Crossposted from the Polity blog.) Filter bubbles and echo chambers have become very widely accepted concepts – so much so that even Barack Obama referenced the filter bubble idea in is farewell speech as President. They’re now frequently used to claim that our current media environments – and in particular social media platforms such as …
Continue reading “Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers: Debunking the Myths”
For the past few years I have published regular monthly updates of the Australian Twitter News Index (ATNIX) at The Conversation and here on this site. As that partnership has now come to an end and the writing of regular updates had become somewhat onerous, we’ve now developed a new approach to sharing the trends …
Continue reading “Now Live: The Australian Twitter News Index as a Dashboard”
As Queensland approaches its election day on Saturday, the social media campaign for votes continues alongside – and in combination with – the candidates’ doorknocking efforts and mainstream media advertising. But over the final two weeks, the focus of that campaign has gradually shifted. First, as I reported a fortnight ago, Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s …
Continue reading “Queensland election: One Nation dominates Twitter debate in the final weeks”
Twitter news sharing patterns for Australian news sites in recent months point to the considerable public attention directed at a handful of key issues. The September/October period is once again notable for a number of major ABC News stories that attracted attention on Twitter well above the long-term average. The first of these, trending from …
Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, September/October 2017”
There’s still plenty of time to go in the current Queensland state election campaign, but early signs from the social media trail offer some encouragement for Labor premier Annastacia Palaszczuk: she is receiving considerably more retweets than LNP challenger Tim Nicholls, and chatter about the controversial Adani mine project has declined in recent days. Twitter …
Continue reading “Early tweets favour Labor in Queensland election campaign”
Audience engagement on social media is an enormously powerful tool for boosting the circulation of news stories, as this month’s Australian Twitter News Index (ATNIX) shows: a number of Australian news stories go viral well beyond their intended target audience. But away from these momentary successes, a quieter shift is underway, too: ABC News is …
Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, August 2017”
As they face a changing market for journalistic content, Australian news organisations are increasingly forced to experiment with new approaches to telling their stories. The Australian Twitter News Index (ATNIX) for July 2017 shows that some new formats for investigative reports can generate considerable engagement – but old-fashioned commentary and opinion pieces also still manage …
Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, July 2017”
Last month’s Australian Twitter News Index (ATNIX) saw a comparative return to a focus on domestic matters. Twitter users predominantly shared links to Australian news media stories that dealt with federal politics and related issues. June largely continues that trend, with one notable exception: unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s secretly recorded attempt at impersonating Donald …
Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, June 2017”
Between the bombshell announcement of further deep staff cuts at Fairfax publications, subsequent strike action by Fairfax journalists, the handing down of the 2017 federal budget, and the much-publicised return of drug smuggler Schapelle Corby to Australia, the news in May was surprisingly strongly focussed on domestic Australian issues. But not all of these matters …
Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, May 2017”
There seems to be no end in sight to the barrage of breaking, critical news from home and abroad these days, and Australians might be forgiven for trying to switch off during the Easter and ANZAC holidays. Even if they did attempt to do so, however, the Australian Twitter News Index for April 2017 shows …
Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, April 2017”
