Politicians and political parties’ use of social media in-between elections
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Digital transformation changes the relationship between citizens and politics. The observation of this nexus is highly relevant for representative democracy. After the successful 2008 Obama campaign, a vast body of research that explores how and why politicians use social media has emerged. However, we still know very little about how social media are being adopted and used in-between elections, and still less yet about what this means for political representation. Therefore, this special issue brings together innovative research that focuses on how the use of social media is impacting upon the relationship between politicians and political parties, and citizens. First, we discuss some pros and cons of this transformation in the context of the relevant literature and, especially, in relation to Stephen Coleman’s concept of ‘direct representation’. Finally, we discuss the findings and merits of the contributions and what the issue adds to our understanding of the phenomenon to the state of research.
DOI: 10.1386/ajms_00017_1
Authors: Todd Graham, Julia Schwanholz
Institutions: University of Leeds, University of Göttingen
Language: English
Topic: Social Media and Politics
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3041958730