I: SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION ; Chapter 1. "The Presidential Campaign of 2012: New Media Technologies Used to Interact and Engage with the Electorate," John Allen Hendricks and Dan Schill ; The 2012 Republican Primary and Social Media ; Social Media Platforms ; General Election ; Presidential Campaigning and Social Media ; Social Media and Changing American Demographics ; Overview of the Book ; Chapter 2: "The Evolution of Digital Media Use in Election Campaigns: New Functions and Cumulative Impact," Daniela V. Dimitrova ; Social Media Growth, Age and Partisanship ; Characteristics of Digital Media ; Multiple Opportunities for Political Engagement ; Lower Cost of Citizen Participation ; Interactivity ; Data Tracking and Data Mining ; Differential Impacts ; Method ; Results ; Discussion ; Chapter 3: "Creating a Win-Win Situation?: Relationship Cultivation and the Use of Social Media in the 2012 Campaign," Emma Svensson, Spiro Kiousis, and Jesper Stromback ; The Promise of Digital and Social Media ; The Philosophy-Mutual Beneficial Value ; Input-The Willingness to Adopt ; Outcomes-Long-term Commitment, Trust and Loyalty ; Maintenance-Strategies for Sustaining and Strengthening the Relationship ; Method ; Relationship Cultivation Strategy Measurements ; Results ; Different Strategies in Different Channels ; Helping the Candidate-Different Types of Collaboration ; Discussion ; II: SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE ; Chapter 4: "Of Networks and Knowledge: Young Adults and the Early 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries and Caucuses," Jody C. Baumgartner, David S. Morris, and Jonathan S. Morris ; Social Networks & Knowledge ; Age and Social Network Usage Patterns ; Social Media Use and Campaign Knowledge: Expectations ; Method ; Analysis: Political Use of Social Networking Sites and Political Knowledge ; Discussion ; Chapter 5: "Technology Takeover?: Campaign Learning during the 2012 Presidential Election," Terri L. Towner and David A. Dulio ; Political Knowledge ; Type of Information Source ; Research Questions and Hypotheses ; Method ; Dependent Variables ; Control Variables ; Media Use Variables ; Testing Procedures ; Results ; Discussion ; Chapter 6: "Don't Push Your Opinions on Me: Young Citizens and Political Etiquette on Facebook," Kjerstin Thorson, Emily K. Vraga, and Neta Kligler-Vilenchik ; Facebook as a Context for Doing Politics ; The Research Context ; Context Collapse and the Networked Audience ; One Golden Rule ; Keep Your Opinions to Yourself (Unless they're Funny) ; Discussion ; III: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTIONS ; Chapter 7: "Uses and Gratifications of Following Candidates' Twitter Campaigns during the 2012 U.S. Primaries," Raluca Cozma ; Political Uses and Gratifications of Social Media ; The Relationship between Political Attitudes and Uses of Social Media ; The Effects of Uses and Gratifications ; Method ; Measures ; Results ; Discussion ; Chapter 8: "Fitting Social Media into the Media Landscape during a 2012 Republican Primary," Paul Haridakis, Gary Hanson, Mei-Chen Lin, and Jennifer McCullough ; Media Choice ; Motives for Using Media for Political Information ; Perceptions of Media Bias ; Method ; Sample ; Measures ; Statistical Analysis ; Results ; Amount of Media Use ; Age Differences and Similarities in Motives for Using Media for Political Information ; Media-Selection Differences among Members of the Major Political Parties ; Discussion ; Chapter 9: "Whose States are Winning?: The Adoption and Consequences of Social Media in Political Communication in the American States," Hyun Jung Yun, Cynthia Opheim, and Emily Kay Balanoff ; Theoretical Underpinnings ; The Growth of Social Media in Political Campaigns ; Social Media's Effect on Political Attitudes and Behavior ; Political Cynicism ; Political Information Efficacy ; Social Media, Geography, and Political Ideology ; Method ; Sample ; Variables and Measures ; Results ; Political Utilization and Legitimacy of SNSs ; Political Interests, Information Efficacy, & Cynicism of Political SNS ; Users ; Perception and Expression of Political Opinions via SNSs ; Purpose and Gratification of Political SNS Users ; Discussion ; Chapter 10: "YouTube/OurTube/TheirTube: Official and Unofficial Online Campaign Advertising, Negativity, and Popularity,"Jacob Groshek and Stephanie Brookes ; Social Media, Election Campaigns, and Political Advertising ; YouTube and the Online Campaign ; YouTube and Campaign Advertising ; Methods ; Official Advertising on YouTube ; Searching Advertising on YouTube ; Variable Categories ; Findings ; Discussion ; IV: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION ; Chapter 11: "The Spirals of Newly Transcending Political Voices: Social Media Purify the Atmosphere of Political Dialogues in Cyberspace," Hyun Jung Yun ; Theoretical Underpinnings ; Political Mavericks in Social Media ; Crosscutting Spirals of Expression in the Political Grounds of Social Media ; In-Group Identities Embedded in the Spirals of Political Discourse in Cyberspace ; Method ; Data and Sample ; Variables ; Results ; Dynamics of Demographics ; Main Source of Political Information ; Political Interests and Information Efficacy ; Political Cynicism: Internal Powerlessness and External Alienation ; Political Expression ; Discussion ; Chapter 12: "Evaluating Textual and Technical Interactivity in Candidate E-mail Messages during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign," Andrew Paul Williams and Roxana Maiorescu ; Candidate Use of E-mail ; Interactivity ; Research Questions ; Method ; Sample ; Categories ; Coding Process and Reliability ; Results ; Discussion ; Chapter 13:"Social Network Sites and Interactivity: Differential Expression Effects in Campaign 2012," David Lynn Painter, Juliana Fernandes, Jessica Mahone, and Eisa Al Nashmi ; Theoretical Framework ; Political Information Efficacy ; Agenda Building: Salience of the Election ; Online Information Sources ; Interactivity ; Expression Effects ; Method ; Participants and Procedure ; Manipulation ; Dependent Variables ; Results ; Participants and Manipulation Check ; Main Effects of Information Source ; Main Effects of Interactivity ; Interaction Between Online Information Source and Interactivity ; Discussion ; V: SOCIAL MEDIA AND VOTER/MEDIA ENGAGEMENT ; Chapter 14: "Issue Debates in 140 Characters: Online Talk Surrounding the 2012 Debates," Dan Schill and Rita Kirk ; Twitter Use in the 2012 Election ; Twitter, Second Screens, and Presidential Debates ; Method ; Campaign Twitter Use ; Source Frame ; Media Validation Frame ; Framing Frame ; Journalist Twitter Use ; Interpretation Frame ; Evaluation Frame ; Citizen Twitter Use ; Discussion ; Second Screen ; Media Convergence ; Agenda Setting ; Chapter 15: "Social Media and Voter Behavior during Presidential Campaigns," Monica Ancu ; What We Know So Far About SNS Users ; Who Are The Politically Active SNS Users? ; Do SNS Have Influence On Offline Behavior and Attitudes? ; What Motivates SNS Users To Engage Politically? ; Method ; Sample ; Measures ; Results ; Demographics of Political SNS Users ; Connection between SNS Behavior and Offline ; What Brings People to Political SNS ; Discussion ; Chapter 16: "Maligned Youth or Political Activists?: Young Citizen Political Engagement using Social Media," Benjamin R. Warner, Joshua Hawthorne, and Sarah Turner McGowen ; Social Media as a Digital Place for Political Engagement ; Profiling the Politically Engaged ; Political Cynicism ; Political Information Efficacy ; Political Polarization ; Method ; Sample ; Procedure and Variables ; Analytic Procedures ; Results ; Discussion ; References ; Chapter 17: "YouTube and the 2012 Presidential Election: An Examination of how Obama and Romney's Official YouTube Channels were used in Campaign Communication," LaChrystal D. Ricke ; Politics and Online Video ; YouTube and Politics ; Method ; Findings ; Obama for America ; Believe in America ; Discussion ; Index