Dr. Mario Guerrero explores how the Internet is changing offline political behavior in edited volume

Congratulations to Dr. Mario Guerrero who recently had his work published in Controlling the Message: New Media in American Political Campaigns. This edited volume comes from two leading scholars in political communication, Victoria Farrar-Myers and Justin Vaughn. The volume, published by NYU Press, curate a series of case studies that use real-time original research from the 2012 election season to explore how politicians and ordinary citizens use and consume new media during political campaigns.

Dr. Guerrero explores how Facebook changes perceptions and behaviors of people offline:

This chapter builds on previous research that examines the effects of online interactive and individually directed venues. In particular, there is reason to believe that the interactive social networking site Facebook affects political participation. This analysis develops a theory of Facebook’s impact on perceptions of citizenship norms and how these perceptions are altering the landscape of political participation in the United States. As online political activity on social networking sites (SNS) increases, certain norms of citizenship will emerge as others simultaneously fade. Specifically, due to the nature of SNS and their interactive characteristics, more politically active individuals on SNS will be more likely to revere notions of institutionally challenging activities. Meanwhile, those individuals who are less politically active on SNS will maintain adherence to traditional notions of political activity, through institutionalized channels. Overall, increases in political activity on SNS will influence norms of citizenship, which in turn decreases institutional forms of offline political participation

Check out the article here. Congratulations once again to Dr. Guerrero!