Social Influence

Bridging Media and Personal Influence: Political Persuasion and the New Rules of Social Interaction

Who shapes political persuasion in the era of algorithms and AI? What roles do mediated and face-to-face communication play? How does the strength of social ties (i.e., weak and strong) converge to influence political opinions? What roles do friends and family, “grassroots” and elite opinion leaders, and political leaders themselves play in shaping or reinforcing opinions? For over a century, the persuasive power of media has been a key area of study in political communication. Although often equated with manipulation, political persuasion is essential in democratic societies, helping promote the best ideas and select the most capable leaders. Yet, persuasion goes beyond changing opinions—it also drives phenomena that have been of ample concern like political polarization and the reinforcement of pre-existing attitudes. Understanding key areas of current interest, such as the acquisition and learning of political information, the impact of misinformation and protective measures, and new forms of mobilization and participation enabled by modern media, provides critical insights into how political influence operates today and how we can address challenges and opportunities in political communication.

Despite the significant changes in the media landscape over recent decades, many theoretical ideas and methodological approaches for studying persuasion and political influence remain relevant and have even gained renewed importance. The role of opinion leaders continues to be crucial in contemporary processes of political persuasion, even with the rise of social media, algorithms, and AI. Selective exposure, for instance, is now arguably more significant than when Lazarsfeld and colleagues first explored it in the context of U.S. presidential campaigns in 1940. Similarly, attention, comprehension, and acceptance of messages remain as vital to persuasion today as they were in the 1950s when Hovland developed his theory of message learning. Traditional methodologies such as surveys, experiments, and interviews continue to be valuable tools, alongside newer methods like network analysis and agent-based modelling. As a result, the field of political communication and related disciplines faces significant challenges and opportunities. It is essential to reassess influential ideas and methods used to explain media effects and determine which should be retained or adapted to effectively address political influence in today’s rapidly changing media and social landscape.

This special issue invites submissions that examine the processes of political persuasion in today’s hybrid media landscape. Topics may include political discourse in general and its impact on attitude and behaviour change, reinforcement of pre-existing beliefs, and political polarization. Submissions should emphasize communication processes, whether occurring through media channels or face-to-face. As all forms of political communication contain persuasive elements, we also welcome articles on new-media phenomena, electoral communication, political campaigns, and political participation. Of particular interest are studies on the role of social media, AI, and algorithmic selection and dissemination of political information. Articles should therefore focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Social media and political influence
• AI, algorithms, and political persuasion
• Media-enabled disinformation and misinformation in the political realm
• Media use, (mis)perceptions, and political participation
• Political participation and the hybrid media environment
• Mediated and interpersonal political influence: the role of weak and strong ties
• Uncivil online interactions and other drivers of political polarization

Dr. Homero Gil de Zuñiga currently serves as Distinguished Research Professor in Political Science at University of Salamanca, where he directs the Democracy Research Unit (DRU), as Distinguished Professor at Penn State University, and as Senior Research Fellow at Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. In general, his work draws from theoretically driven research, aiming to shed an empirical social scientific light over how social media, algorithms, AI, and other technologies affect society. Relying on survey, experimental, and computational methods his work seeks to clarify the way we understand some of today’s most pressing challenges for democracies. Recipient of the Pennsylvania State University Medal for Outstanding achievement in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Fellow of the International Communication Association (ICA), Fellow of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and recipient of the Krieghbaum Under-40 Award at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC), he has recently been identified as one of the most prolific scholars in Political Communication and Social Media (Sierra & Rodríguez-Virgili, 2020), one of the most bridging and central node Communication Scholars in Latin America (Segado-Boj et al., 2021), and recognized as Clarivate's Journal of Citation Reports (JCR) Highly Cited Scholar in 2020 and 2022.

Dr. Alberto Ardèvol-Abreu is an Associate Professor ('Profesor Titular de Universidad') at the Department of Communication Science at the University of La Laguna (Spain). Alberto’s research interests focus on new media and political communication. He is particularly engaged in the enquiry about positive and negative effects of internet-based media use on civic and democratic life. Closely connected to research in political communication—from both theoretical and empirical perspectives—, Dr. Ardèvol-Abreu has examined the effects of media portrayal of immigration, minorities, and impoverished countries.

Neither author have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

For more information on this Collection, please contact the Commissioning Editor, Dr. MK Huffman, at mary.huffman@taylorandfrancis.com.