# The Digital Architectures of Social Media: Comparing Political Campaigning on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in the 2016 U.S. Election

## TL;DR

This study examines how the technical design of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat influenced political campaigning strategies during the 2016 US election, highlighting platform-specific effects on user engagement and campaign tactics.

## Contribution

It introduces a framework for analyzing social media platforms' digital architectures and applies it to compare four major platforms in a political context.

## Key findings

- Platform architecture shapes campaign strategies and user engagement.
- Network structure and algorithms influence information dissemination.
- Different platforms enable distinct political communication tactics.

## Abstract

The present study argues that political communication on social media is mediated by a platform's digital architecture, defined as the technical protocols that enable, constrain, and shape user behavior in a virtual space. A framework for understanding digital architectures is introduced, and four platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat) are compared along the typology. Using the 2016 US election as a case, interviews with three Republican digital strategists are combined with social media data to qualify the studyies theoretical claim that a platform's network structure, functionality, algorithmic filtering, and datafication model affect political campaign strategy on social media.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1904.07333