Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
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Item The Internet Research Agency Campaign to Influence the 2016 US Presidential Elections: A Rhetorical Analysis(John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2025-08-19) Nelson N; Hodgetts D; Chamberlain KThe centrality of information and communicative processes in persuading society has, historically, made the media one of the key networks of power and influence in society. The rapid expansion of social media platforms has, however, enabled revolutionary changes in how this power is wielded and how persuasion occurs. This has had a profound impact on how political, economic, and social issues are understood and addressed. While a comprehensive body of social psychological theory and applied practice on the topic of persuasion has been developed over many years, persuasion in the contemporary social media environment is one that researchers are yet to fully understand. Methods for achieving this understanding continue to evolve. This article draws on a large corpus of material (2218 Facebook advertisements and metadata) which documented the Russian Internet Research Agency campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential elections. Drawing on Aristotle's rhetorical framework, this article presents a process analysis to understand how political persuasion is undertaken in the contemporary social media environment. The findings provide new insights into the social psychological processes of persuasion in contemporary society and demonstrate the utility of a rhetorical framework in understanding persuasion campaigns in dynamic digital settings.Item Russia's @RT_Com Twitter campaign supporting the 2022 Ukraine invasion: A rhetorical analysis(Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society of Political Psychology, 2025-05-28) Nelson N; Hodgetts D; Chamberlain KThe centrality of information and communicative processes in influencing and contributing to the beliefs held in a populous has, historically, made the media one of the key networks of power and influence in society. The rapid expansion of social media platforms has revolutionized how media power is wielded to influence how political, economic, and social issues are mobilized, understood, and addressed. Understanding how this process occurs is, thus, important, but methods for achieving this understanding continue to evolve. This article draws on a large corpus of material (2473 Tweets and associated metadata) produced by the Russian state media Twitter account, @RT_Com, as one part of a broader campaign to influence the Western response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. We identified five overarching narratives that @RT_Com developed to influence its target audience: No Russian invasion; the West is threatening Russian security; Ukraine is part of Russia; Russia will utilize nuclear weapons to protect its sovereignty; and economic, political, and social insecurity in the West. Drawing on Aristotle's rhetorical framework, this article presents a process analysis to understand how these narratives were developed into means of persuasion. The findings provide new insights into the processes of persuasion in contemporary society.