John Allen Hendricks is a professor whose research focuses on political communication, social media/new media technologies, and the broadcasting industry and is the author of more than ten books on the subjects. His book, Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House, was one of the first scholarly examinations of the historical role new media technologies played in the historic 2008 American presidential election, and it received the National Communication Association’s Applied Research Division's 2011 Distinguished Edited Book Award. Communicator-in-Chief examined the Obama campaign's innovative uses of social media/new media technologies including Twitter, smartphones, blogging, YouTube and viral videos, and campaign advertisements strategically placed in video games to reach Millennial voters. Further examining the 2008 presidential campaign, he also co-edited the book Techno Politics in Presidential Campaigning: New Voices, New Technologies, and New Voters.
After the 2012 presidential election, Hendricks' book Presidential Campaigning and Social Media: An Analysis of the 2012 Election examines the rapidly growing influence of social media in American politics. This was one of the first scholarly monographs to explore the role of social media in the 2012 campaign. It provides analysis on the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest by the presidential candidates. The 2014 mid-term elections served as another opportunity to study the use of social media in American political campaigning, and Hendricks and Schill published Communication and Mid-Term Elections: Media, Message, and Mobilization. The book examines the campaign issues, media coverage, late-night comedy shows, technology, and advertising strategies in that year's mid-term election. Following the tumultuous 2016 election, Hendricks' book, The Presidency and Social Media: Discourse, Disruption, and Digital Democracy in the 2016 Presidential Election, examines the important role social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, played in the election and primary campaign. He has been called upon by American media outlets such as NBC News, FOX News, and CQ Researcher to discuss the role of social media/new media technologies in the political process. Hendricks served as president of the Broadcast Education Association from 2015 to 2016.
