Is social media dying? How much did Twitter change as it became X? Which party now dominates the conversation?

Using nationally representative ANES data from 2020 & 2024, I map how the U.S. social media landscape has changed

Here are the key take-aways 🧵

Full paper out now in in JQD:DM!

📢 New publication! 📢

So happy to see this paper finally out @epsrjournal.bsky.social !

Looking at public perceptions of party positions in 29 elections across 20 European countries, I test whether populist radical parties are seen as more moderate when they are part of a government coalition.

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Abstract Politicians regularly claim to represent groups of citizens, shaping how these groups feel represented. However, most existing studies focus on groups deemed ‘deserving’ of representation or analyze claims made in election manifestos. This study therefore examines the temporal dynamics of politicians’ claims of representation, including both deserving and undeserving portrayals. Using advanced natural language processing methods, we analyze Belgian (Flemish) politicians’ claims on Facebook from 2014 to 2024. Our findings highlight three insights: (1) politicians claim to represent a diverse range of groups, but some face exclusionary claims (e.g. migrants, the rich) or are ignored (e.g. men, sexual minorities); (2) the frequency and focus of claims shift over time, often responding to elections and crises; and (3) inter-party differences in claims-making are more pronounced during non-election periods but narrow as elections approach. This study thereby shows that analyzing temporal dynamics reveals critical patterns in politicians’ representative claims-making.

Who deserves representation, and when? August De Mulder, Ine Gevers & @zeljkopoljak.bsky.social unpack the temporal dynamics of politicians’ claims of representation on social media: buff.ly/F8kabYP

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com #ECRs

Fantastic work! Congrats to everyone! 🥳

Our new article on gender differences in why young people join political parties is now out, open access, in @ejprjournal.bsky.social ✨

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@duncanmcdonnell.com @profannikawerner.bsky.social @rheinisch.bsky.social Marco Valbruzzi @cwegscheider.bsky.social

Negativity and Misinformation There are large and growing bodies of research highlighting inaccuracies in news coverage. In this paper, we suggest that negativity biases account for a substantial portion of longstanding inaccur...

I am excited about this new paper, Negativity & Misinformation, just out with @cbwlezien.bsky.social in @polcommjournal.bsky.social: "durable biases in information processing, by media organizations and humans more generally, can produce misinformation and misperceptions..." doi.org/10.1080/1058...

Congrats, Kira!! 🥳🥳

🗳️📊 Do Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) make young voters more politically literate? Our new @ejprjournal.bsky.social study with @jokematthieu.bsky.social & Stefaan Walgrave finds they boost ideological knowledge—more than previously documented. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Excited to visit the University of Mannheim today to give a talk on the causes of online political incivility. Big thanks to @dienerjulius.bsky.social and @ortuttnauer.com for the kind invitation. @mzesunimannheim.bsky.social

🚨 New piece forthcoming @poqjournal.bsky.social w/ @alessandronai.bsky.social

Does violence beget more violence? We answer this question using the #Mangione case (assassination + arrest) as a natural experiment.

Results ⬇️

Accepted manuscript: tinyurl.com/4mwh6rt6
Data & code: osf.io/y5mn3

Are elected representatives’ intimate ties representative? Examining their socio-economic status in 13 countries | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Are elected representatives’ intimate ties representative? Examining their socio-economic status in 13 countries - Volume 65 Issue 1

65.1🦋

Is representation out of touch? 🤔

Nino Junius & Stefaan Walgrave comment on a #RepresentationGap between high and low SES backgrounds in politics, suggesting that those who benefit the most from inclusion in their personal networks often lack it the most 🤝

🚨 So excited about our new paper in @BJPS: h7.cl/1iliZ! We (Corinna, Lena, Camila, Sarah) analyze how gender shapes the extent to which ministers are scrutinized by parliament.

We’re organizing a workshop at Aarhus University. Please share and consider submitting!

🗓️ 13–14 April 2026 | 📝 Deadline: Mon, 16 Feb 2026 (extended abstract) — junior scholars prioritized

🎤 Keynotes: @stefwalter.bsky.social (Univ. of Zurich) & @hhuang.bsky.social (Ohio State)

Wow, congrats Kira! 💪

🫵WE WANT YOU 🎓
Are you interested in political communication, negative campaigning, and social norms? Are you experienced in quantitative methods? Do you have good rain clothes?

Then our postdoc position might be just for you: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas

Congrats, Sofia!! 🙌 Get well soon.

New article with @corinnaoschatz.bsky.social and @jenniferbast.bsky.social in Party Politics on the perceived costs and benefits of negative campaigning for male and female candidates and its impact on attack behavior

doi.org/10.1177/1354...

And more job opportunities: @univie.ac.at aims to fill 40 (!) doctoral positions in the social sciences, humanities and cultural studies

careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/p...

Thanks, Ale, for all your support. :)

Thanks Kira! :)

Unfortunately, this also means that I am leaving the fantastic @m2p-antwerp.bsky.social research group at the University of Antwerp, where I have spent an incredible seven and a half years. I am deeply grateful for the time I spent in Antwerp working with some brilliant people.

I am thrilled to announce that as of January, I have started a new postdoctoral position at Aarhus University. I will be working on the YOUTHPOL project, led by @henrikseeberg.bsky.social , where we study political parties’ youth wings and youth representation.

Are we trapped in a vicious cycle of political incivility on social media? 🤳 Our new study suggests that we are, but primarily as elections approach. The more we like, comment or share uncivil political content, the more politicians use such rhetoric close to elections.
➡️ doi.org/10.1177/1532...

After 3 years and 5,322 emails (and counting) our Encyclopedia of Political Communication is finally out at @elgarpublishing.bsky.social

📚 Three volumes
⭐ 431 entries
🎓 581 wonderful authors from across the world

A very short 🧵

Congrats, Sophie!! 🥳

🚨 3-Year Postdoc in Political Science at Aarhus University 🚨

I’m seeking to recruit a postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu research project 𝑬𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑼𝑴 on state-citizen interactions.

Link and more information in second post.

Position Start: Fall 2026
Application Deadline: ‼️ February 5, 2026, 23:59 CET ‼️

🚨 New in Nature+Science!🚨
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate

AI chatbots can persuade voters to change their minds Conversations with AI can sway people’s political views. Concerningly, a chatbot’s facts are not always accurate, especially when it supports right-wing positions.

🤖 AI chatbots can persuade voters 🗳️

@cvargiu.bsky.social and I were recently asked to review a piece for @nature.com, now out, and wrote a short digest about it

TLDR: chatting with a LLM can change your mind, even if facts provided are not always accurate

check it out 👇

#chatbots #persuasion

Navigating policy legitimacy: the distributive and procedural justice of road transport pricing schemes - Interest Groups & Advocacy A major question in politics concerns how the policymaking process shapes political legitimacy. Drawing from the distributive and procedural justice literature, we propose two explanatory factors infl...

How can politicians make citizens more accepting of costly climate policies?

Our new study shows that people are more likely to support policies, even if they involve personal costs (!), when diverse stakeholders are actively included in decision-making.

doi.org/10.1057/s413...

🔔Job Alert 🔔
Thrilled to share that @stefaniebailer.bsky.social and I have been awarded 1.5 million CHF in SNSF funding for our new project: “Electoral choice: Which role does legislators’ quality play?”
We’re recruiting 1 postdoc and 2 PhD candidates to join us in Basel and Geneva!