Participatory Propaganda in Seven Simple Steps

Participatory
Propaganda in Seven
Simple Steps.
13
Propaganda is changing in a Digital Age. Audiences
are no longer passive consumers of persuasive
content, but active in its creation and spread,
helping to further the agenda of propagandists
whose messaging resonates with the target’s
world view.
Participatory propaganda moves beyond a oneway
form of communication (the propagandist
using mass media to persuade a passive target
audience), to a “one-to-many-to-many more” form
of communication (the propagandist engaging
in dialogue with the target audience such that
more people are recruited to spread persuasive
messaging to others, essentially snowballing the
effect). Participatory propaganda offers the ability
to truly dominate the information space through
volume of messaging, delivered through a mix of
real people and automated accounts, effectively
making it difficult to discern where fake ends and
authenticity begins.
A modern political campaign fits the model of
traditional propaganda as defined by Jowett and
O’Donnell, 11 namely the “deliberate, systematic
attempt to shape perceptions” (e.g. popular
opinions of Trump and Clinton) such that it “directs
behaviour to achieve a response” (e.g. support for
Trump in the form of online participation and voting)
furthering “the desired intent of the propagandist”
(e.g. the Trump campaign).