The past eight years have seen a great increase in Internet usage in American culture and politics. It would seem that, in our digital age, the Internet has exercised strong effects on political behavior and even on legislators. This thesis explores the variety and intensity of these effects, finding them to be substantial and growing, although not yet robust. The main influences the net has exerted on American politics take place predominantly within two areas: political campaigns and online political interest groups. Activists are certainly using the Internet for political causes, but this sort of Internet usage is really just an extension of previous activism. The Internet does not create new habits; it simply offers a more convenient method of reading the news, communicating to others, or performing other activities we have already been inclined to perform. Even those Internet users who access political web sites are shown preeminently to be those who have otherwise accessed political information in other ways such as newspapers or televised news. So far the Internet has made campaign donations easier for people who are comfortable surfing the World Wide Web. But there is little evidence to show that these people would not have otherwise donated to the campaign by more traditional methods. The Internet has made political activism easier, but people who are not politically active will not suddenly change simply because the Internet offers itself as an expedient, inexpensive tool. We have seen, however, with groups like MoveOn.org, that activists are rallying, communicating, and demonstrating more efficiently than ever before. The political parties or groups that can most effectively use the Internet to mobilize voters and affect public opinion will greatly benefit themselves.

SOUSA, Ícaro Joathan de. Adversários face a face: uma análise da campanha negativa promovida por Dilma Rousseff e Aécio Neves no facebook durante as eleições de 2014. 2015. 254f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Comunicação Social, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-02-04T11:02:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_ijsousa.pdf: 7624608 bytes, checksum: 14f106b126ac81c3aece9dc24f66eccf (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-02-04T11:10:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_ijsousa.pdf: 7624608 bytes, checksum: 14f106b126ac81c3aece9dc24f66eccf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-04T11:10:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_ijsousa.pdf: 7624608 bytes, checksum: 14f106b126ac81c3aece9dc24f66eccf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / This research aims to understand the promotion strategies of the negative campaign carried out by the two main candidates running for the Presidency of the Republic in Brazil during the pre-campaign, campaign, and post-campaign periods in 2014 – Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Aécio Neves (PSDB) – on Facebook. Such election was marked by a fierce dispute in the polls, and also by an aggressive attitude between those candidates in the several communication means – with special emphasis on the digital media. To do the research, all the posts published in the official fan pages of the two candidates running for Planalto Palace were collected between April 6 and November 2, 2014, which corresponds to the period officially established by the Electoral Superior Court (TSE), encompassing three months before the elections and one week immediately after. Through the techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis, only the posts classified under the “negative campaign” category are considered for the research, and obtained by checking the posts that presented information with the purpose or potential to negatively affect the image of the rivals. Then, the messages are sorted out based on the adaptation of categorizations of Kaid and Johnston (1991), Klotz (1998), Lourenço (2007, 2009), and Borba (2012a, 2012c, 2015). The classification checks the frequency; the author and the target of criticism; the type of resource used in the publication; the focus of the attacks; and the rhetoric appeal used by the competitors. At the end of the research, a mapping of the usage forms of the negative ads in such social network site is presented, which indicates as the main results that the attacks on Facebook were more frequent than in the free electoral advertisements on TV; that Dilma and Aécio had each other as preferred targets; that both of them used multimedia resources in their criticism, which was predominantly of political nature, and the credibility of the sources appeal. / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo compreender as estratégias de promoção da campanha negativa empreendida no Facebook pelos dois principais candidatos à Presidência da República no Brasil – Dilma Rousseff (PT) e Aécio Neves (PSDB) – durante os períodos de pré-campanha, campanha e pós-campanha em 2014. A eleição em tela foi marcada por uma disputa acirrada nas urnas e também por uma postura agressiva entre os presidenciáveis nos diversos meios de comunicação – com especial destaque para os media digitais. Para proceder à pesquisa, foram coletadas todas as postagens publicadas nas fan pages oficiais dos dois postulantes ao Palácio do Planalto entre 6 de abril e 2 de novembro de 2014, que corresponde ao período oficialmente determinado como eleitoral pelo TSE acrescido dos três meses anteriores a ele e da semana imediatamente posterior ao pleito. Por meio das técnicas de Análise de Conteúdo e de Análise de Discurso, são considerados para investigação apenas os posts enquadrados na categoria “campanha negativa”, obtidos a partir da verificação de quais postagens apresentavam informações com objetivo ou potencial de afetar negativamente a imagem dos rivais. Em seguida, as mensagens são classificadas a partir da adaptação de categorizações de Kaid e Johnston (1991), Klotz (1998), Lourenço (2007, 2009) e Borba (2012a, 2012c, 2015). A classificação verifica a frequência; o autor e o alvo da crítica; o tipo de recurso empregado na publicação; o foco dos ataques; e o apelo retórico utilizado pelos concorrentes. Ao fim da investigação, apresenta-se um mapeamento das formas de uso da propaganda negativa no Facebook, tendo como principais resultados que os ataques nesta rede social foram mais frequentes do que no horário gratuito de propaganda eleitoral na TV; que Dilma e Aécio tiveram um ao outro como alvo preferenciais; que ambos utilizaram recursos multimídia em suas críticas, cuja natureza foi predominantemente política e com apelo de credibilidade das fontes.

This thesis aims to examine how online engagement in the #NotMyBattlefield campaign can be understood as an online harassment campaign and a continuation of the Gamergate controversy. Research has shown that Gamergate was appropriated by external political groups, such as the Alt-Right. The Alt-Right is known to be highly adept in media manipulation, executing deliberate framing strategies as a means to push political agendas and gain influence online (Blodgett, 2020, p. 187; O’Donnell, 2019, p. 10). The group's appropriation of Gamergate and gaming culture is highly indicative of the politicisation of gaming culture. The aim of this research is twofold. First, an overarching content analysis seeks to analyse the rhetoric arguments and thematic patterns found in conjunction with the hashtag #NotMyBattlefield on Twitter. Secondly, this thesis employs an adapted version of Burgess and Matamoros-Fernández (2016) method of issue mapping. The purpose of this mapping is to analyse the campaign’s relationship to prominent actors within online media, as well as to examine the structure and patterns the campaign followed. The combined results of the content analysis and issue mapping reveal how the #NotMyBattlefield can be understood as a continuation of Gamergate, influenced by Alt-Right ideologies. They bare similarities in the way feminism and political correctness are painted out to be instigators of an attack on gaming culture.Furthermore, the results also reveal how such campaigns are primarily reactionary - only showing increased levels of activity in response to external factors and events. At no point in time did the campaign show any indications of self-sustained motivation or engagement. The results of this thesis further signify the politicisation of gaming culture. The influence of external forces, such as the Alt-Right, signifies a need for further research in order to gain a better understanding of how to circumvent and prevent the radicalisation of gaming.

nÃo hà / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo compreender as estratÃgias de promoÃÃo da campanha negativa empreendida no Facebook pelos dois principais candidatos à PresidÃncia da RepÃblica no Brasil â Dilma Rousseff (PT) e AÃcio Neves (PSDB) â durante os perÃodos de prÃ-campanha, campanha e pÃs-campanha em 2014. A eleiÃÃo em tela foi marcada por uma disputa acirrada nas urnas e tambÃm por uma postura agressiva entre os presidenciÃveis nos diversos meios de comunicaÃÃo â com especial destaque para os media digitais. Para proceder à pesquisa, foram coletadas todas as postagens publicadas nas fan pages oficiais dos dois postulantes ao PalÃcio do Planalto entre 6 de abril e 2 de novembro de 2014, que corresponde ao perÃodo oficialmente determinado como eleitoral pelo TSE acrescido dos trÃs meses anteriores a ele e da semana imediatamente posterior ao pleito. Por meio das tÃcnicas de AnÃlise de ConteÃdo e de AnÃlise de Discurso, sÃo considerados para investigaÃÃo apenas os posts enquadrados na categoria âcampanha negativaâ, obtidos a partir da verificaÃÃo de quais postagens apresentavam informaÃÃes com objetivo ou potencial de afetar negativamente a imagem dos rivais. Em seguida, as mensagens sÃo classificadas a partir da adaptaÃÃo de categorizaÃÃes de Kaid e Johnston (1991), Klotz (1998), LourenÃo (2007, 2009) e Borba (2012a, 2012c, 2015). A classificaÃÃo verifica a frequÃncia; o autor e o alvo da crÃtica; o tipo de recurso empregado na publicaÃÃo; o foco dos ataques; e o apelo retÃrico utilizado pelos concorrentes. Ao fim da investigaÃÃo, apresenta-se um mapeamento das formas de uso da propaganda negativa no Facebook, tendo como principais resultados que os ataques nesta rede social foram mais frequentes do que no horÃrio gratuito de propaganda eleitoral na TV; que Dilma e AÃcio tiveram um ao outro como alvo preferenciais; que ambos utilizaram recursos multimÃdia em suas crÃticas, cuja natureza foi predominantemente polÃtica e com apelo de credibilidade das fontes. / This research aims to understand the promotion strategies of the negative campaign carried out by the two main candidates running for the Presidency of the Republic in Brazil during the pre-campaign, campaign, and post-campaign periods in 2014 â Dilma Rousseff (PT) and AÃcio Neves (PSDB) â on Facebook. Such election was marked by a fierce dispute in the polls, and also by an aggressive attitude between those candidates in the several communication means â with special emphasis on the digital media. To do the research, all the posts published in the official fan pages of the two candidates running for Planalto Palace were collected between April 6 and November 2, 2014, which corresponds to the period officially established by the Electoral Superior Court (TSE), encompassing three months before the elections and one week immediately after. Through the techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis, only the posts classified under the ânegative campaignâ category are considered for the research, and obtained by checking the posts that presented information with the purpose or potential to negatively affect the image of the rivals. Then, the messages are sorted out based on the adaptation of categorizations of Kaid and Johnston (1991), Klotz (1998), LourenÃo (2007, 2009), and Borba (2012a, 2012c, 2015). The classification checks the frequency; the author and the target of criticism; the type of resource used in the publication; the focus of the attacks; and the rhetoric appeal used by the competitors. At the end of the research, a mapping of the usage forms of the negative ads in such social network site is presented, which indicates as the main results that the attacks on Facebook were more frequent than in the free electoral advertisements on TV; that Dilma and AÃcio had each other as preferred targets; that both of them used multimedia resources in their criticism, which was predominantly of political nature, and the credibility of the sources appeal.