page and with someone like any elected official, the pool of followers individual’s O’Rourke or is just as likely to acknowledge or even comment on a personal post such as a birthday announcement. Despite the paucity of personal posts, Congressman use of this type of posts O’Rourke’s is similar to the use of community outreach and recognition posts and all are consistent with (2011) notion that personal information sharing serves an important part of identity Gatson’s maintenance as well as Williams and (2012) position that such posts fuel a personal Gulati’s connection between politicians and their constituents. Add to this the viral nature of expression on Facebook and even though there are few personal posts, it is easy to see why they receive tremendous support. The category of consists of posts that only discuss or explain an issue without reflection providing resolution or with minimal commitment or direction from Congressman O’Rourke. Reflection posts are mostly shared links to articles that may or may not have a comment from leaving the interpretation up to the user. Again the uniqueness of Facebook means O’Rourke, that when or any politician shares information and links to media, they are capitalizing O’Rourke on the viral nature of social media. While we did not track reposting in the content surveyed, it is clear that there is an important effect taking place when information is shared. And to an extent, even when there is not an explicit endorsement of the information or ideas in other media, there is an implicit connection and likely subtle support between the source and the reposter. A post that reached many users was Congressman thoughts on the US O’Rourke’s Supreme Court decision regarding The Defense of Marriage Act on June 26, 2013. The following accompanied a link shared by the Congressman:
individual’s page and with someone like O’Rourke or any elected official, the pool of followers is just as likely to acknowledge or even comment on a personal post such as a birthday announcement. Despite the paucity of personal posts, Congressman O’Rourke’s use of this type of posts is similar to the use of community outreach and recognition posts and all are consistent with Gatson’s (2011) notion that personal information sharing serves an important part of identity maintenance as well as Williams and Gulati’s (2012) position that such posts fuel a personal connection between politicians and their constituents. Add to this the viral nature of expression on Facebook and even though there are few personal posts, it is easy to see why they receive tremendous support. The category of reflection consists of posts that only discuss or explain an issue without providing resolution or with minimal commitment or direction from Congressman O’Rourke. Reflection posts are mostly shared links to articles that may or may not have a comment from O’Rourke, leaving the interpretation up to the user. Again the uniqueness of Facebook means that when O’Rourke or any politician shares information and links to media, they are capitalizing on the viral nature of social media. While we did not track reposting in the content surveyed, it is clear that there is an important effect taking place when information is shared. And to an extent, even when there is not an explicit endorsement of the information or ideas in other media, there is an implicit connection and likely subtle support between the source and the reposter. A post that reached many users was Congressman O’Rourke’s thoughts on the US Supreme Court decision regarding The Defense of Marriage Act on June 26, 2013. The following accompanied a link shared by the Congressman:
Political-Dialgue-in-the-Liking-Era.docx