Three Syracuse University professors are writing a textbook about the ways politics and social media intersect.

Professors Regina Luttrell and Jon Glass, of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and professor Lu Xiao, of the School of Information Studies, are authors and editors of “American Democracy: Influence, Activism and Misinformation in the Social Era.” The textbook, geared toward political communications classes, is set to be published in spring 2021.

The textbook will consist of essays written by researchers from across the country and explore topics from online activism to the spread of misinformation through social media. Luttrell, Glass and Xiao will all write separate chapters.

“It is about the empowerment that social media has brought to the everyday person,” Glass said, “and how we are using that within our political system.”

The textbook comes after the three professors organized the lecture series Social Media and Democracy in 2018. The series was so well received that the professors decided to expand on its ideas in the textbook, Luttrell said.

Luttrell’s chapter will examine social media and the women’s movement. Social media has assisted in the revitalization of the women’s movement. The 2017 Women’s March was a catalyst, she said.

“All of a sudden, it was happening,” Luttrell said. “You couldn’t turn on the television without seeing the March. It was all over the world.”

Glass’ chapter will be about social media’s impact at the local level. He said social media has become a vehicle for causes to promote their message and organize.

“It’s definitely been one of the major changes within the societal communication of how people gather,” Glass said.

Social media has significantly shifted the way politics are promoted, consumed and engaged with, Glass said. He called it a “game changer” for how information is being questioned.

While they have finished the textbook’s abstract, the textbook is still in its early stages, Glass said. The authors will be contributing their essays over the next six months, and the editing process will unfold from there.

Among the academics contributing, an essay to the textbook is written by Biko Gray, professor of religion at SU. His chapter will look into the effectiveness of social media in promoting and organizing the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as how law enforcement reacts to online movements, he said.

“What I’m really interested in is how hashtags begin to proliferate, and how activists begin to use social media as a tool for organizing,” Gray said. “And how the very use of social media brought more attention from the state to try to counteract the organizing efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Luttrell said social media has become an equalizer. Anyone with an internet connection can use Facebook or Twitter to have a voice, she said.

“You can have a say in whatever the democratic process is to you,” Luttrell said.

Published on October 2, 2019 at 8:56 pm