Conceptualizing Political Expression through the Social Media Feed

• In Event: The Limits of Free Expression on Social Media

Abstract

Since the advent of social media, scholars have studied how platforms such as Facebook, X, and Instagram enable ordinary citizens to voice their political opinions. This political expression is tied to the development of citizens’ political self-concepts and increased propensities toward political participation. Despite the importance of political expression in democratic theories, Lane et al. (2022) argue that the concept remains “dimly visible in the background” of political communication scholarship (p. 332). Their systematic review of expression research suggests that it is often inconsistently conceptualized, and they call for further definitional clarity on political expression and its relationship to media technologies.

I answer this call by drawing on what might initially seem to be a negative case: the exposure management strategies that social media users employ to curate their news feeds, such as friending and unfriending other users. Although the social media feed might initially seem an unlikely space for political expression, examining it also enables me to probe conceptual boundaries. I draw on theories of political communication, critical algorithm studies, and self-representation to foreground two research questions: What characteristics constitute political expression on social media? To what extent can social media exposure management strategies be considered as a form of political expression?

To answer these questions, I conducted a longitudinal qualitative study over the course of the 2020 U.S. election. This study combines in-depth interviewing with observational research through social media co-browsing and diary activities that position research participants as “co-analysts” of their own social media feeds across platforms. I compiled data through three in-depth virtual interviews: a pre-election interview in October 2020; an immediate post-election interview in November 2020 with feed diaries compiled by participants between November 1–7, 2020; and a post-inauguration interview in February 2021. In total, the study comprises 55 interviews with 21 respondents (76% retention). I analyzed the data in MAXQDA through an iterative coding process that involved identifying emergent themes, consulting literature, and revisiting transcripts and observational memos.

I examine exposure management strategies using three dimensions of political expression that emerged through this research: (a) identification, (b) effort, and (c) audience. Through its relationship to these dimensions, I argue that exposure management strategies constitute a form of partial, low-control political expression that manifests through the structure and content of a user’s social media feed.

For a Facebook status or tweet to constitute a form of expression, the expresser must understand it as representative of themselves in some way. The dimension of identification describes the process of associating one’s opinions, beliefs, or identity with an external subject. I found that participants described their social media feeds as often (but not always) reflective of their personal agency and political values. For example, participants emphasized how the posts that appeared on their feeds were reflective of their character (e.g., job, ideology) and control (e.g., unfollowing political detractors).

Debates have arisen among scholars about the amount of effort and explicitness required for social media behavior to constitute political expression. For example, does liking a political post count as an expressive act? Drawing from Neubaum and Weeks (2023), I understand the dimension of effort as a scale, suggesting that some expressive behaviors are more intensive than others. Several participants discussed managing political content on their feeds as a purposeful, laborious, and often reactive undertaking requiring specialized knowledge and skills.

Finally, political expression is an intrapersonal process, but it is typically directed at some sort of audience. Participants discussed exposure management as directed at three distinct audiences. These include (a) their future self as a viewer of the curated social media feed; (b) other users who might notice that they have been unfriended or unfollowed; and (c) platform algorithms that sort and promote feed content. Participants frequently discussed how their politically-motivated exposure management strategies might be interpreted by algorithms and what implications this could hold for their feeds in the future.

Ultimately, this study offers a conceptual framework that can be utilized to identify and analyze political expression across social media contexts. By focusing on exposure management, it also suggests new expressive dimensions to existing frameworks of selective exposure and avoidance, extending theoretical links between political self-concept and information avoidance.

Author

• Chelsea Butkowski, American University