John Allen Hendricks

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. He has served as academic department chair since 2009.

His book, Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House (co-edited with Robert E. Denton Jr. of Virginia Tech),  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 (with Lynda Lee Kaid, University of Florida). After the 2012 presidential election, Hendricks' book Presidential Campaigning and Social Media: An Analysis of the 2012 Election (co-edited with Dan Schill of James Madison University) 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 (co-edited with Dan Schill of James Madison University), 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 (Sinclair Broadcast Group), 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 (BEA) from 2015 to 2016.

Political Communication Books

 * Schill, D. & Hendricks, J. A. (Eds.), The Presidency and Social Media: Discourse, Disruption, and Digital Democracy in the 2016 Presidential Election. (Routledge, 2018). ISBN 9781786848239
 * Hendricks, J. A. & Schill, D. (Eds.), Communication and Midterm Elections: Media, Message, and Mobilization. (Palgrave, 2016). ISBN 9781137488015
 * Hendricks, J. A. & Schill, D. (Eds.), Presidential Campaigning and Social Media: An Analysis of the 2012 Election. (Oxford, 2015). ISBN 9780199355846
 * Hendricks, J. A. & Kaid, L. L. (Eds.), Techno Politics in Presidential Campaigning: New Voices, New Technologies and New Voters. (Routledge, 2011). ISBN 9781136968204
 * Hendricks, J. A. & Denton, R. E. Jr. (Eds.), Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House. (Lexington, 2010). ISBN 9780739141076

Social Media Books

 * Noor Al-Deen, H., & Hendricks, J. A. (Eds.). Social Media and Strategic Communications. (Palgrave, 2013). ISBN 9781137287052
 * Noor-Al Deen, H., & Hendricks, J. A. (Eds.). Social Media: Usage and Impact. (Lexington, 2011). ISBN 9780739167298

Broadcasting Industry Books

 * Hendricks, J.A. (Ed.). Radio's Second Century: Past, Present, and Future Perspectives. (Rutgers University Press, 2020). ISBN 9780813598468
 * Hendricks, J. A., & Mims, B. The Radio Station: Broadcasting, Podcasting, and Streaming. (Routledge, 2018). ISBN 9781138218819
 * Hendricks, J. A., & Mims, B. Keith’s Radio Station: Broadcast, Satellite, and Internet. (Focal Press, 2015). ISBN 9781136027857
 * Hendricks, J. A. (Ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Global Radio. (Palgrave, 2012). ISBN 9780230293076
 * Hendricks, J. A. (Ed.). The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry: Economic and Managerial Implications in the Age of New Media. (Lexington, 2010). ISBN 9780739140055