Emma van der Goot is a PhD candidate in the programme group Political communication and Journalism at the University of Amsterdam (ASCoR). She is also affiliated with the strategic communication group at Wageningen University and Research. Her research interests lie in conflict framing and negative campaigning. In particular, she is interested in how politicians adopt conflict framing in their online communication, whether different kinds of conflict have a differential effect on political engagement and cynicism, and how they impact democracy.

The impact of online battles: Use and implications of political conflict frames in a digital media environment

Politicians increasingly use online and social media to communicate with voters. In doing so, they frequently use conflict framing (i.e. criticizing other politicians, ideas, or institutions). Conflicts can take a variety of forms and have different effects. We know that conflict framing can mobilize and inform voters, but it can also lead to cynicism and disengagement. What is unclear, however, is whether and how the nature of the conflict frame moderates these effects.