Political Advertising on the Wikipedia Marketplace of Information

  • We point to a popular yet underresearched platform of political information, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Considering the supply side of the marketplace, we argue that personal biographies on the platform are an attractive medium for politicians to enhance their appearance. We trace changes to biographies coming from the parliament using data that cover the entire edit histories for biographies on all German members of parliament for the three last legislative periods. Our findings show editing of personal biographies to be a persistent phenomenon. Moreover, type, timing, and driving factors of editing behavior highlight the importance politicians’ attribute to Wikipedia for pursuing reelection. Our results speak to the domains of political professionalization, voting behavior, and the general measurement of communicative patterns.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Author(s):Sascha Göbel, Simon MunzertORCiD
Parent Title (English):Social Science Computer Review
Publication year:2018
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
First Page:157
Last Page:175
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439317703579
Release Date:2020/01/27
Volume:36
Issue:2
Licence of document (German):Metadaten / metadata
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