Broadcast Versus Interaction: Environmental Groups' Use of Twitter

This study examines the extent to which interest groups utilize Twitter to engage in interactive communication and the potential of such communication to serve organizational goals such as mobilization, fundraising, and expanding support for groups' causes. Based on a content analysis of 5,000 tweets by environmental organizations in the context of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I show that interactive communication was relatively uncommon and, further, that interactivity did not yield a significant payoff in terms of expanding groups' reach and influence within the medium. These findings suggest that the benefits of interactivity may be overstated, and that other communicative strategies may better serve groups' goals during times of crisis.