Political Behavior in the Context of Digital Media

Professor Bruce Bimber studies political behavior in the context of digital media. He is interested in how social media, as well as other facets of the Internet, affect how people think about politics and how they become involved in public affairs. In recent years he has studied people’s involvement in elections in the US and UK, boycotting over issues such as LGBT rights, what it means to be a “member” of an organization such as AARP or MoveOn, and how people choose and react to partisan political news.

In one current study he and his collaborators are examining the effects of the diverse supply of news made possible by cable and the Internet.  It is well-known that people prefer news from viewpoints that reinforce their prior beliefs, and also that people are characteristically poor judges of what constitutes neutral, fair, or balanced political information. The Internet feeds these biases.  Professor Bimber’s work shows that the effects of consuming news that reinforces biases include elevated anger as well as hope, a belief that one understands issues better, and an increased likelihood of taking political action of some kind. This means that digital media contribute to political polarization, political action, and increased gaps in political voice between people who are more and less interested in public affairs.

Often Professor Bimber’s work involves comparing what happens when ad hoc networks of people become interested in a political problem, such as Occupy and Black Lives Matter, with what happens when formal organizations like interest groups or civic associations advocate for an issue.  In 1998, he first began writing about how unaffiliated networks of people were beginning to use the Internet to accomplish collective actions that previously would have required the resources and expertise of interest groups or social movement organizations.  In his current research, he seeks to understand which people are more likely be responsive to ad hoc activist networks (as opposed to formal political organizations) as a function of personality and other traits. He is also studying how people frame issues in conversations in social media and how this compares with the way that professional journalists and advocacy organizations talk about those same issues.

Bruce Bimber is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science.  He has been on the faculty at UCSB since 1993. In 1999, he founded the Center for Information and Technology and Society, which he directed until 2006. In 2010 he was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  To learn more about Professor Bimber, please visit his personal website.