Theory and practice of agenda setting: understanding media, bot, and public agendas in the South Korean presidential election

ABSTRACT

Social media not only changes the traditional communication environment, but also introduces new modifications to agenda setting. With the increasing use of social bots in public opinion manipulation and political election interference, whether they can participate in or influence agenda setting has become an urgent concern. Currently, there is limited literature focusing on engagement in agenda-setting for social bots agenda setting. This paper examines the content of social media discussion related to the South Korean presidential election, identifies the presence of social bots, and explores the relationships between media agenda, bot agenda, and public agenda from the perspective of agenda setting. The study found that although the primary agendas of the media, social bots, and the public are not identical, they are interconnected. Furthermore, the media agenda does not precede the bot agenda and the public agenda in terms of timeliness, and chronological order is only observed between social bots and the public.

KEYWORDS:

• Agenda setting
• social media
• social bots
• Twitter
• political communication
• general election

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.