Social bots used in political campaigns can amplify messages and influence sentiment

A new study has found that social bots significantly shaped the Ohio 2022 midterm election agenda by amplifying campaign messages, boosting negative sentiment and influencing which issues gained attention.

The findings were featured in “Social Bots as Agenda-Builders: Evaluating the Impact of Algorithmic Amplification on Organizational Messaging” by Miami University Assistant Professor Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. 2019, University of Arizona Assistant Professor Joshua Anderson, University of Texas (UT) at Austin Assistant Professor Josephine Lukito, UT at Austin doctoral student Mansi Shah and University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Public Relations Professor and Executive Associate Dean Spiro Kiousis. The article was published in Journal of Public Relations on Jan. 4.

According to the authors, “Overall, our key finding is that social bots successfully influenced the agenda-formation process, most heavily in negative tone and most notably among the election campaigns. That is, they successfully transferred object salience, attributes, and networks to the campaigns, press and public’s discourse. While social bots contributed to shaping the discourse of this democratic election, their impact was moderate.”

They add, “Considering object salience, the social bots were most successful at leading the first-level agenda for the campaigns, specifically, with noticeably weaker influence over the public and press. Overall, endogenous-exogenous influences suggest that social bots led the field on five objects: civil liberties, energy, security, the environment and the election itself.”

Category: Alumni News, College News
Tagged: Election Campaign Messages Public Relations Social Bots Spiro Kiousis
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