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On the one hand, we find technological restrictions that are inevitable. For
example, in the case of the press, the number of columns, the lack of visuals
in radio, the angle of the camera on TV, the available number of characters
on community sites (see Twitter), or content filters, are barriers that users
can influence. On the other hand, we find the standards of content creators,
typically those of social media platforms, or journalists in traditional media.
Suppose the content is created to create prestige or make financial profit. In
that case, the aspects of consumability are shaped by the followers’ presumed
taste and supplemented by forms that are already in the medium’s toolbox.
a. Media logic and network logic
Media logic and network logic have distinct features. Still, the transition from
one to the other does not mean an absolute paradigm shift. Network logic
often complements media logic, but it inevitably entails the adaptation of
communicators to new technology (West and Orman 2003). Network logic
is rooted in the fact that social media works differently to traditional media.
Content-making (manufacturing), distribution, and media consumption
are organised along different network logic lines than in the media logic.
Nevertheless, the theory of network logic is a direct consequence of the
theory of media logic.
Based on the studies by David Altheide and Robert Snow, media logic
describes the process where media transmits and communicates information
(Altheide 1985; Altheide and Snow, 1979; 1988). The exact process in
political communication is about the political actors’ use of media, or in
other words, the way political actors understand and instrumentalise medias
communication and message transmission mechanisms. By possessing such
knowledge, politicians communication also changes, which affects political
communication at large. The network logic acknowledges the importance
of information transmission and of media use, but it is rather focused on
political and popular culture.
The political culture component refers to the values and political behaviour
ofindividuals and collective groups. Political culture is defined in the classic
concept of Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba through three different subtypes
of citizens (political) culture. In the participants culture, citizens are active,
supportive, or dismissive in political processes. These are the citizens of
modern democracies. In the subject culture, citizens comply with and trust
the legality of the state. Feudal societies are typical examples of this culture,
where the subjects had few rights (they did not have political rights, for
example) as opposed to their obligations (e.g. paying taxes). In a parochial
political culture, there are no distinct political functions. States falling apart
and ruled by warlords are prime examples (Almond and Verba 1989).