Scopes of Agenda-setting research in the age of social media

Abstract:

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Agenda-setting research has mostly concentrated on Television and touched upon the role of newspapers too. However, after the rise of social media, there is competition between social media and traditional media to influence the public perception. Many times, social media and new media complement each other and other times, they contradict with each other. This article proposes four models for studying agenda-setting research in relation to social media and discusses whether it has really claimed the uncontested scope of television for agenda-setting. The first model invites researches on whether social media, as completely different to traditional media in terms of content generation and audience engagement, can be studied to measure the agenda-setting role of media. This is to say whether public opinion polls, the typical agenda setting research to measure public perception, can be replaced by studying people's expressions in social media. The second model proposes researches on whether Social media are replacing the role of traditional media as agenda-setter to the public. The third is about agenda-building; how social media and traditional media complement or contradict in terms of setting agenda for each other. The Fourth one invites researches on whether the social media are replacing the role of traditional media in terms of influencing public perceptions.

Key Words: Agenda-setting, framing, Social media, television

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The article was published in Television Journal of Nepal. Reference to original article:

Kshetri, I. D. 2016. Scopes of agenda-setting research in the age of TV and social media. In Television Journal of Nepal, 1 (2016),  pp. 50-65.