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MPs and Web Technologies: An Untapped Opportunity?
Abstract
MPs have not previously been assigned a major role in electoral campaigning, being considered only one element of a political party's ‘marketing’ tools for winning votes. Evidence now suggests that the relationship between MPs and their constituents is changing. The concept of ‘constituency service’ implies that individual MPs can have a much greater influence on local voters and so possibly buck national trends. At the same time the concept of the ‘permanent campaign’ is transforming political campaigning whereby the political elite needs ever-greater control of the tools used to provide messages to voters. The internet is a potential battleground between MPs who want greater control of their own local campaigning and the party elite who want to ensure a consistent, coherent and controlled message.
The Internet is a new addition to the campaigning armoury, yet the focus so far has been on e-government, e-democracy and election campaigns. By concentrating on how and why MPs use their websites this paper considers whether MPs have fully understood and utilised this new medium.
Key questions include whether their websites are ‘sticky’, interactive and a means of creating a targeted message.
The findings of this detailed study of MPs' websites show that apart from a few pioneers, MPs have not progressed beyond using the Internet as ‘shovelware’ — the vast majority view their website as an electronic brochure and not a new form of two-way communication. Copyright
... Alternatively, they might view Twitter as a strategic communication channel, a way of reaching key audiences efficiently and effectively. These are not new questions; research suggests that bandwagon was the prime motive of MPs' adoption of websites (Ward and Gibson 1998, Jackson 2003, Ward and Lusoli 2005. However, the adoption of subsequent online tools and applications is a more complex process, with an array of motives. ...
... Considering the use of ICTs by MPs in seven European countries, Hoff (2004) concluded that there may be a new role as 'information agents'. Focusing on the UK, Jackson (2003) suggested that websites might be enhancing existing functions, such as the constituency and partisan roles. In addition, e-newsletters were adding value to the constituency role as information conduits (Jackson 2006). ...
... This listed 63 MPs with Twitter accounts on 31 June 2009. Twelve accounts were dormant, one was fake, and two MPs never actually tweeted; 51 accounts were deemed 'sticky' (Jackson 2003). ...
... Whilst a small proportion of adopters might have clear communication goals for their web presence, most were merely adopting the technologies because their colleagues were, and so lacked a strategy for adoption. Certain characteristics were believed to encourage Internet use, such as marginality (Jackson, 2003), party allegiance (Vincente-Merino, 2007), party size (Jackson, 2003) and personal characteristics such as age (Ward & Lusoli, 2005); with younger MPs being more likely to be digital natives and so have a website. At the same time, the quality of MPs websites (Perrone, 2002), blogs (Auty, 2005) and social network site profiles (Jackson & Lilleker, 2009;Williamson, 2009a) has been criticised. ...
... Whilst a small proportion of adopters might have clear communication goals for their web presence, most were merely adopting the technologies because their colleagues were, and so lacked a strategy for adoption. Certain characteristics were believed to encourage Internet use, such as marginality (Jackson, 2003), party allegiance (Vincente-Merino, 2007), party size (Jackson, 2003) and personal characteristics such as age (Ward & Lusoli, 2005); with younger MPs being more likely to be digital natives and so have a website. At the same time, the quality of MPs websites (Perrone, 2002), blogs (Auty, 2005) and social network site profiles (Jackson & Lilleker, 2009;Williamson, 2009a) has been criticised. ...
... At the same time, the quality of MPs websites (Perrone, 2002), blogs (Auty, 2005) and social network site profiles (Jackson & Lilleker, 2009;Williamson, 2009a) has been criticised. Typical problems have been that MPs do not always update material regularly (Jackson, 2003), provide static electronic brochures (Painter & Wardle, 2001) and there is limited interactivity between the MP and their online visitors (Ward & Lusoli, 2005;Williamson, 2009b). Overall, this implies that MPs' use of the Internet is primarily passive and reactive, rather than supporting a proactive strategy enhancing the representative process. ...
This chapter offers a framework for considering whether the Internet might be facilitating the evolution of e-representation. The chapter starts by considering the meaning of representation; it then considers what factors influence changes in the concept of representation. We argue that, potentially, the Internet may be facilitating a model of representation based not on the geographic constituency, but upon common interest. The chapter assesses the use of four Internet modalities by UK Members of Parliaments (MPs): websites, e-newsletters, weblogs, and social networking sites. We suggest that there is evidence of parallel e-representation, where MPs use the Internet to enhance their relationship with geographical constituents. We also find the basis for a separate form of e-representation based around the development of an e-constituency of those with shared policy interests. We suggest that by creating a more flexible model, e-representation may add significant nuance to the direct versus representative democracy debate.
... The Internet provides another means by which political parties, and their candidates, can provide information on their policies and activities. Focusing on the provision of content is a largely unsophisticated use of ICT, a one-way form of an electronic brochure (Bimber 1998;Bimber and Davis 2003;Jackson 2003). ...
... Content analysis has been widely used to assess the adoption of Internet tools and technologies. It has helped create a rich picture of the role that the Internet has played within election campaigning (Ward and Gibson 2003;Coleman and Ward 2005;Foot and Schneider 2006;Stanyer 2006;Kluver et al., 2007;Ward et al., 2008) and political communication (de Landtsheer et al., 1999;Jackson 2003;Gibson et al., 2003a;. For example, a study of features promoting web-based activism (Hill and Hughes 1998), using a content analysis schematic to determine the political affiliation of 100 political websites, offered significant insights into the Internet's role in mobilisation. ...
... Such studies allow the development of measurable benchmarks and for predictions to be derived and then empirically tested through longitudinal research projects (for example Corrado and Firestone 1996). showing a coordinated use of websites to disseminate the campaign message, but there was a predominance of 'shovelware' (Jackson 2003). Equally, the content of websites of all 1998 U.S. House and Senate Candidates was analysed, ...
The Internet first played a minor role in the 1992 U.S. Presidential election, and has gradually increased in importance so that it is central to election campaign strategy. However, election campaigners have, until very recently, focused on Web 1.0: Websites and email.
... Many studies have raised the question of whether more interactive forms of communication, between the represented and their representative are or should be prevailing (Coleman & Blumler, 2009). It is argued that the online environment, including websites and weblogs, and now social networking sites (SNS), Twitter and video or picture sharing platforms, can be used to support the representational link (Jackson, 2003). ...
... The fact that this link can be purely virtual and online leads to this being defined as e-representation (Jackson, 2003;Pole, 2004) and offers a homestyle model, facilitated by platforms offering a range of conversational-style communication, that can develop stronger ties between the legislator and their constituents (Gibson, Lusoli, Ward, 2008). Interactive communication also has the capacity to link the legislator to a wider network and extend their reach into the online political communication ecosystem (Chadwick, 2011). ...
... Drawing on previous studies of legislators online, and incorporating the notion that prioritisation in communication is an indicator of the importance given to communication modes and the image conveyed (Ingall & Crisp, 2001) (Adler, Gent & Overmeyer, 1998). Homestyle focuses on identifying communication priorities but dovetails with the broader concept of constituency service (Cain, Ferejohn & Fiorina, 1987) and, for online environments, e-representation (Coleman, 2007) E-representation concerns the extent to which the Internet supports the representative functions of elected members of parliaments within democratic nations (Jackson, 2003). Previous research has shown that e-representation is usually expressed in communication through the provision of information targeted towards specific voter groups, so using the Internet as a direct communication channel between the representative and a constituency (Bimber, 1998;Ward & Lusoli, 2005;Ward, Lusoli & Gibson, 2007) in order to explain their contribution to the area they represent within the legislature (Fenno, 1978;Denzau, Riker, & Shepsle, 1985). ...
Research into the communication strategies of legislators has a long history. The European Parliament offers an opportunity to add to understanding of how legislators prioritise styles of communication, with a comparative perspective across twenty-seven nations. Through content analysis of online communication we investigate how the Internet is used by MEPs. Our analysis assesses three communication strategies: homestyle, impression management and participatory. We find that a homestyle strategy predominates followed by impression management. Participatory communication is emergent, but may earn legislators political capital as it appears that proactive communicators who offer participatory opportunities are more likely to build an online following
... Alternatively, they might view Twitter as a strategic communication channel, a way of reaching key audiences efficiently and effectively. These are not new questions; research suggests that bandwagon was the prime motive of MPs' adoption of websites (Ward and Gibson 1998, Jackson 2003, Ward and Lusoli 2005. However, the adoption of subsequent online tools and applications is a more complex process, with an array of motives. ...
... Considering the use of ICTs by MPs in seven European countries, Hoff (2004) concluded that there may be a new role as 'information agents'. Focusing on the UK, Jackson (2003) suggested that websites might be enhancing existing functions, such as the constituency and partisan roles. In addition, e-newsletters were adding value to the constituency role as information conduits (Jackson 2006). ...
... This listed 63 MPs with Twitter accounts on 31 June 2009. Twelve accounts were dormant, one was fake, and two MPs never actually tweeted; 51 accounts were deemed 'sticky' (Jackson 2003). ...
Twitter, a microblogging site which allows users to deliver statements, thoughts and links in 140 characters to followers as well as a wider Internet audience, is the latest online communications technology adopted by MPs. Assessing the use by early adopters, this article considers which MPs are most likely to use Twitter (for example, tweeting), and how. Content analysis of MPs' Twitter feeds was conducted, and personal and political characteristics identified which may influence use. The data suggested that of the six characteristics tested, gender, party and seniority had most impact on adoption. Applying Jones and Pittman's 1982 typology, there is clear evidence that MPs use Twitter as a tool of impression management. Constituency service is a secondary function of the use of Twitter by MPs. Where MPs use Twitter as part of their constituency role it is to promote their local activity. This article notes that a small group of MPs use Twitter as a regular communication channel, but most are only occasionally dipping their toe into the microbloggersphere.
... This is somewhat ironic given the high, normative, hopes in the e-democracy literature (Barber 1998;Coleman, 1999, Shane 2004Dahlberg, 2009). Initially, such technologies were seen as having the potential to foster a more continuous, inclusive, conversational and mutually understanding relationship between the represented and their representatives (Coleman, 1999(Coleman, , 2005Jackson, 2003Jackson, , 2008Lilleker and Jackson, 2014;Williamson, 2009). Subsequent empirical research, has led to regular criticism that MPs are failing to use the full potential of interactive technologies, ignoring dialogue and focusing on broadcasting or political marketing thus further distancing themselves from the public (Jackson andLilleker, 2007, 2010;Williamson 2010;Francoli and Ward, 2008). ...
... Initially, such technologies were seen as having the potential to foster a more continuous, inclusive, conversational and mutually understanding relationship between the represented and their representatives (Coleman, 1999(Coleman, , 2005Jackson, 2003Jackson, , 2008Lilleker and Jackson, 2014;Williamson, 2009). Subsequent empirical research, has led to regular criticism that MPs are failing to use the full potential of interactive technologies, ignoring dialogue and focusing on broadcasting or political marketing thus further distancing themselves from the public (Jackson andLilleker, 2007, 2010;Williamson 2010;Francoli and Ward, 2008). However, politicians are often cautious about nature of Internet communication and their online conversations. ...
The murder of the MP Jo Cox in June 2016 drew attention to the abuse, threats and violence directed towards political representatives in democracies. Though there was no evidence that Cox’s killer had directly engaged in online harassment, it drew to attention to the experiences of abuse towards MPs via social media platforms. Twitter threats, impersonations and trolling were seen as an increasing matter of concern, as a number of MPs highlighted the almost daily barrage of abusive and threatening messages. Besides the obvious threat to MPs themselves, social media sites have been accused of facilitating a coarsening of democratic debate and allowing for the, normalization of abuse, particularly against female representatives. At one level, social media abuse could be seen as the latest chapter in a long history of attacks on politicians – some have even suggested that abuse is simply a reflection of political anger and that any attempts to control social media platforms are a means of protecting politicians from the strength of public opinion (O’Neill, 2015). Alternatively, online abuse has been seen as symptom of apparently increasing levels of political polarisation in western democracies. The Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, has argued recently that it, [online abuse], undermines democracy by potentially restricting debate on emotive issues for fear of abuse by participants (Home Affairs Select Committee, 2017). At the same Parliamentary hearing, The Head of Parliamentary Security at Westminster stated:
I do not think we are at the tail end at all. I think it is getting more publicity now and people are more aware of it... I think it is at a high level. In my assessment, it will go up from that (Home Affairs Select Committee, 21 March 2017)
Despite the obvious political concerns and media attention, there has been relatively little specific research on the phenomenon and few attempts to actively quantify the extent of the problem. Anecdotal media reporting suggests high and increasing levels of abuse on Twitter in particular. This research, therefore, attempts to provide a benchmark through quantifying the extent, scale and nature of the abuse of MPs via Twitter, as well as exploring some of the causes. Additionally, we have sought to gather evidence on those engaged in abuse – are they the stereotypical spottyyouth loners in their bedrooms? Or, are there common patterns, networks and profiles to abusers. In order to assess these questions, we gathered a dataset of over 270,000 tweets sent directly to the 573 UK MPs with Twitter accounts over a two and half month period (November 2016-January 2017). These were then sifted to identify around 7,000 tweets that contained abusive messages or hate speech (see definitions discussed below) that was further analysed to create an overview of the phenomena and also to track patterns in both abuse and hate speech.
... Representatives worldwide do use ICTs to expand their connection with voters (Francoli, 2007;Tenscher, 2014;Ward & Lusoli, 2005). Previous studies suggest that the fact that ICTs are considered cutting-edge motivates representatives to use them (Jackson, 2003;Ward & Gibson, 2003). Nevertheless, despite the potential of these tools to be interactive, scholars demonstrated that representatives usually use them to create a one-way, top-down monologue in the form of an electronic brochure to promote their views (Jackson, 2003;Ward & Lusoli, 2005). ...
... Previous studies suggest that the fact that ICTs are considered cutting-edge motivates representatives to use them (Jackson, 2003;Ward & Gibson, 2003). Nevertheless, despite the potential of these tools to be interactive, scholars demonstrated that representatives usually use them to create a one-way, top-down monologue in the form of an electronic brochure to promote their views (Jackson, 2003;Ward & Lusoli, 2005). Finally, representatives vary in their choice of Internet tools, choosing among e-newsletters (Jackson, 2006), weblogs (Francoli & Ward, 2008), social networking sites (Jackson & Lilleker, 2009) or Twitter (Jackson & Lilleker, 2011). ...
Despite the existing research on how elected representatives use Twitter, there are few comparative studies and none that considers Israel, a country that differs from most democracies in its electoral system. This study has two levels of analysis. The first is the country level, in which the author compares and explains how representatives in four countries – the US, Canada, Australia and Israel – use the talk, listen and respond model to achieve their goals. The second is the individual level, in which the author analyses how personal characteristics such as gender and age, and political characteristics such as seniority and membership in the opposition or coalition affect the frequency of use of Twitter. Using quantitative data, it is demonstrated that representatives vary in the frequency of their use of Twitter. On the country level, Australian representatives use Twitter more often than their counterparts in other countries. On the individual level, first-term members, members of the opposition, and older representatives use Twitter more often than those with more seniority, coalition members, and younger legislators.
... Political communication shares some of the same negative connotations of propaganda with descriptions of "spin", the idea of the left that "public relations is all today" (see, for instance, Brown and Coates (1996, p. 5), and the dark arts of negative political advertising. The extant literature on political communications tends to focus most widely on political advertising (see for instance Lee Kaid and Holtz-Bacha [2006] for an overview); negative political advertising (Ansolabeherre and Iyengar 1995); direct marketing (O'Shaughnessy 1988); and online communications methods ( Jackson 2003;Jackson andLilliker 2009, 2011). Apart from O' Shaughnessy's (2004) contemporary work on the war in Iraq there is little discussion of the role of propaganda and the nexus with political communication. ...
... Political communication shares some of the same negative connotations of propaganda with descriptions of "spin", the idea of the left that "public relations is all today" (see, for instance, Brown and Coates (1996, p. 5), and the dark arts of negative political advertising. The extant literature on political communications tends to focus most widely on political advertising (see for instance Lee Kaid and Holtz-Bacha [2006] for an overview); negative political advertising (Ansolabeherre and Iyengar 1995); direct marketing (O'Shaughnessy 1988); and online communications methods ( Jackson 2003;Jackson andLilliker 2009, 2011). Apart from O' Shaughnessy's (2004) contemporary work on the war in Iraq there is little discussion of the role of propaganda and the nexus with political communication. ...
England's rulers, merchants, and organized labor in the early modern period (from the 16th to the 18th centuries) were all actively using what today we would call propaganda. Each group appreciated the need to get popular opinion on its side, or at the least to convince other groups it was in the public interest to act in a particular way. This study focuses on the use of xenophobic narratives by these actors in order to further their political, economic, or cultural objectives. The targets were economic rivals including the Dutch, but most particularly ethnic and religious outgroups, including Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Jews. Although there were public relations win-wins for anyone who was able successfully to demonize foreigners, racist and xenophobic propaganda was often more pernicious than the tellers realized, in many cases extending its influence over several generations. In addition, it is clear that many narratives failed to engage with public opinion, for reasons that were not always clear to the groups responsible for them.
... Explanatory factors were investigated using demographic/political data on MPs, election results and internet penetration data at the constituency level. This study estimated that around 70% of MPs in the UK Parliament would soon have a web presence, a percentage that had expanded considerably since a previous census carried out by Jackson (2003). ...
... Personal, constituency and party factors were all found to play a role in determining MPs' decision to go online. This conclusion differed from that ofJackson (2003) who argued that party and constituency factors are of little significance compared to personal factors in the decision to create a web presence. Ward et al (2007) carried out a similar analysis of the use of personal websites by Australian Members of Parliament (MPs), positing that this could be related to changes in their performance of three roles; as representatives of the electorate, as representatives of a political party, and as national legislators (2007, p.2). ...
... Literature review Political science scholars have long studied the ways in which new media affects the political system. This includes scholars examining the perceptions, practice, and implications of numerous technologies, tracing the rise of social media, blogs, mobile applications, among numerous other studies (Davis, 2009;Gibson et al., 2003;Jackson, 2003;Jackson and Lilleker, 2011;Lilleker et al., 2011;Tromble, 2016;Vaccari, 2014). Within this body of work, a key area of the scholarship for our focus in this article has been on the ways that party technologies are constructed and maintained. ...
Political parties have gone digital. Political scientists in countries around the world have diagnosed the rise of the digital party and traced parties’ adoption of digital technology. Existing attempts to understand parties’ digital practices have focused on the adoption of different tools, with scholars empirically studying and theorizing how and why digital technology is used. What has received less attention is the technical architecture and origins of these tools, questions that have been more directly examined by political communication scholarship. In this paper we entwine insights from these two disciplines, interrogating the idea of ‘platformization’ in the context of political technology. Presenting a unique, longitudinal dataset that captures the technological development of political party websites in 66 parties in 16 countries, we provide unprecedented insight into the evolution of party websites and show evidence of increasing platform dependency. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of parties’ relationship with technology, showing how technological developments and monopolies can lead to increasingly homogenized practice internationally.
... The 10 significance of marketing in politics has increased as voters become diverse, the market fragmented, and television viewership has disintegrated (De Landtsheer, De Vries and Vertessen, 2008). Aspiring political candidates seek to create a unique brand identity to match their personality, campaign objectives and voter expectations and blend this identity effortlessly through all communication messages (Jackson, 2003). Imam (2015) explains that political marketing infers the usage of marketing tools, techniques and methods in the political process. ...
In the 21st century, the importance of social media is highlighted in political marketing. Political players and stakeholders believe the use of social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, among others, can influence political participation. Nowadays, social media tools are utilised within political communication campaigns to secure victory, encourage interaction between political parties/voters, promote and market identities, ideologies and build images. New media technologies have played essential roles in the Nigerian political landscape in the last two decades, both on the side of campaigners who work for political parties and the electorates who vote-in politicians marketed to them through political marketing. Hinged on the three-stage model of political marketing and the technological determinism theory, this paper examines and provides a contextual appraisal of the nexus between political marketing and the social media boom, particularly the Nigerian political system. This study employed an essentially exploratory and descriptive design with significant reliance on a desktop or library review of literature and theories presented alongside the analyses of relevant issues in work. The paper concluded that social media usage in political marketing encourages more engagement and interaction between the political actors and the electorates.
... Online communication technology is part of British election campaigns since the early 2000s (e.g. Jackson, 2003;Ward and Gibson, 2003), and social networking sites are part of British election campaigns since the late 2000s (e.g. Jackson and Lilleker, 2009;Jackson and Lilleker, 2011). ...
The 2016 EU referendum campaign is said to have been characterised by fear, slander and populist calls to action. But was the 2016 EU referendum campaign that incivil? This chapter examines the use of political incivility by British MPs and campaign groups during the 2016 EU referendum campaign by comparing their separate and combined use of swear words, slurs, offensive words, negative exclamations and lack of politeness in their Facebook postings. We find that British campaign groups and MPs did run a primarily civil EU referendum campaign on Facebook. Only a small percentage of all Facebook posts contains political incivility, of which more incivil posts were from campaign groups than MPs and of “Leave” campaign groups than “Remain” campaign groups. In addition, we find tentative evidence that the murder of Jo Cox reduced the use of political incivility by campaign groups, but not MPs, in the final weeks of the campaign.
... Fenno's (1978) Home Style, for example, offers a detailed ethnographic insight into the myriad ways that US Congressmen engaged with their districts, identifying different representative styles and procedures. Other scholars have categorised representatives' use of specific communication tools, tracing the use of representatives' websites (Gibson et al., 2003;Lilleker et al., 2011), blogs (Davis, 2009), emails (Jackson, 2003;Vaccari, 2014) and social media (Jackson and Lilleker, 2011;Joshi and Rosenfield, 2013;Tromble, 2016). A different strand of work has also analysed the degree to which representatives' behaviour accords with constituents' demands (Linde and Peters, 2018). ...
Contact between politicians and their constituents is the cornerstone of democracies globally but an area of scholarship that remains relatively under-developed. Political contact can help convey authority, provide legitimacy and facilitate governance. This article goes beyond the assumption that representatives need to communicate more with the public and suggest, instead, that the quality of contact matters. Focusing on four processes which citizens can contact their representatives (face-to-face, by letter, email or social media), we employ an experimental vignette methodology (EVM) to test whether the character and timeliness of politicians’ responses to citizen communication affects two indicators of democratic health: (a) the latter’s satisfaction with political contact and (b) their likelihood to re-contact representatives. Our findings provide evidence that personalised communication and to a smaller extent, speed of response, can influence citizen satisfaction and likelihood of reengagement, suggesting politicians can improve these indicators of democratic health by adjusting their communication content.
... This is somewhat ironic given the high, normative, hopes of the early e-democracy literature (Barber, 1998;Coleman, 1999;Shane, 2004). Initially, such technologies were seen as having the potential to foster a more continuous, inclusive, conversational and mutually understanding relationship between the represented and their representatives (Coleman, 1999(Coleman, , 2005Jackson, 2003;Lilleker & Jackson, 2014;Williamson, 2009). Yet communication via social media has come to viewed more sceptically for a number of reasons: Firstly, the relative low cost of communication, arguably means that it is easier to access representatives than ever before (Shulman, 2009). ...
There has been growing public attention around the abuse of MPs online including criminal convictions for violent threats, regular coverage of racist and misogynistic language directed at representatives. Yet, the extent of the problem and patterns of abuse remain relatively under-researched. So far, much of coverage of the problem is anecdotal or based on self-reporting from MPs. This research sets out to provide a more rigorous benchmark measure of abuse. It also examines targets and triggers for social media abuse-how far is abuse connected to contentious debates such as Brexit or targeted at specific groups of MPs (e.g. female representatives)? Our results indicate that whilst the overall volume of abuse appears low, social media abuse has become ubiquitous and is highly public. Furthermore, whilst some abuse is undoubtedly targeted and gendered, the biggest proportion of abuse follows a reactive response to political discussions and public interventions of MPs.
... Digital communication is available 24/7, and this elevates of the level of social interaction. It allows permanent connectivity and "the notion of stickiness" (Jackson, 2003), manifesting in the frequency of updating a status or instant posting messages. ...
The article discusses the influence of digitalization on the organization of a political party and on its members. It presents an analysis of factors limiting and facilitating the development of a political party connected with the use of digital media. The analyses employ data gathered through quantitative and qualitative research conducted among backbenches, members of parliament and leaders of six Polish political parties. A positive connection has been demonstrated between a party’s age and the mode of using particular media types and communication tools. Also, attention has been paid to the phenomenon of digital divide and the possible means of connectivity to party political activity via new technologies, digital tools and digital media. Party members perceive traditional and direct forms as attractive; however, new parties with younger members clearly expect and practice more online activities.
... Other than publicly-funded media, most corporations focus on profit, not on facilitating wide access, engagement and deliberation. Parties, politicians and government institutions have also been slow to adopt new media as tools for deliberation, using it mainly for service delivery and an additional one-to-many promotional medium (Chadwick, 2006;Gulati, 2004;Jackson, 2003;Jackson & Lilleker, 2004). Public engagement becomes more promotional and rhetorical, rather than substantive (Edelman, 1964;Wernick, 1991). ...
To gain and retain political power, politicians use the media to persuade the masses to vote and support them, especially during elections. Barisan Nasional (BN) has successfully used the media to maintain its power for the past 57 years, making it the longest-serving elected government in the world still currently in office. However, the emergence of the Internet has challenged the status quo. The purpose of the research was to investigate how new media has influenced the political process and communication strategies in Malaysia and its impact on the political landscape. The researcher interviewed 19 respondents: politicians, bloggers and media consultants from both sides of the political divide. The findings showed that new media, especially Web 2.0, has expanded the public sphere and enabled more Malaysians to participate in the democratic process, through information dissemination, mobilisation or crowd-sourcing. However, the cyber-war between BN and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has caused confusion and disinformation, affecting the quality of democratic decision-making. Nevertheless, new media has enabled more voices to emerge and challenge the political hegemony.
... Early studies nonetheless demonstrate that many MPs fail to make use of exploit the opportunities the Internet provides, employing their online presence primarily as a message board. For example, their personal websites served principally as sources of information rather than promoting engagement (Andersen & Medaglia, 2009;Gibson & Ward, 2009;Haleva-Amir, 2011;Jackson, 2003;Lev-On, 2011)an attempt to avoid 'confrontation' with the public and retain control of content (Stromer-Galley, 2000). ...
Research on political communication between MPs and the public has focused on the role, activities and perceptions of the members of parliament (MPs) themselves. However, the authors’ prior research demonstrated that in fact social media necessitate a new prism through which to study such communication. The contribution of the present study is to look at this relationship through the heretofore under-researched prism of those who in fact are doing much of the actual communication (at least in Israel): the parliamentary assistants (PAs). Whereas other studies tend to focus on the communicative contents, the present research deals mainly with the behind-the-scenes processes that produce such content.
In this study 26 PAs were interviewed in Israel’s Knesset regarding three central questions: What are the goals of the MPs’ activities on Facebook? What are the key obstacles perceived by the assistants while maintaining MPs’ Facebook presence? What are the main professional dilemmas that PAs run into during their Facebook activity on behalf of MPs? By addressing these questions, the paper contributes to generating a more comprehensive picture of the ways political Facebook posts are born, and of the processes through which MPs’ social media presence is generated.
... Early studies nonetheless demonstrate that many MPs fail to make use of exploit the opportunities the Internet provides, employing their online presence primarily as a message board. For example, their personal websites served principally as sources of information rather than promoting engagement (Andersen & Medaglia, 2009;Gibson & Ward, 2009;Haleva-Amir, 2011;Jackson, 2003;Lev-On, 2011)an attempt to avoid 'confrontation' with the public and retain control of content (Stromer-Galley, 2000). ...
Research on political communication between MPs and the public has focused on the role, activities and perceptions of the members of parliament (MPs) themselves. However, the authors’ prior research demonstrated that in fact social media necessitate a new prism through which to study such communication. The contribution of the present study is to look at this relationship through the heretofore under-researched prism of those who in fact are doing much of the actual communication (at least in Israel): the parliamentary assistants (PAs). Whereas other studies tend to focus on the communicative contents, the present research deals mainly with the behind-the-scenes processes that produce such content.
In this study 26 PAs were interviewed in Israel’s Knesset regarding three central questions: What are the goals of the MPs’ activities on Facebook? What are the key obstacles perceived by the assistants while maintaining MPs’ Facebook presence? What are the main professional dilemmas that PAs run into during their Facebook activity on behalf of MPs? By addressing these questions, the paper contributes to generating a more comprehensive picture of the ways political Facebook posts are born, and of the processes through which MPs’ social media presence is generated.
... 2 Citizens are also more likely to contact legislators in electoral systems using SMDs (Curtice and Shively, 2000), potentially further strengthening the constituency-legislator relationship. Even when citizens are not in direct contact with a legislator, as would be the case in social media campaigns, the citizen develops deeper ties to the representative (Gibson et al., 2008;Jackson, 2003). More broadly, familiarity reinforces positive feelings. ...
Fenno’s Paradox—the preference for one’s own legislator while disliking the legislature as a whole—remains one of the most consistent findings in American politics. This tendency increases the likelihood for incumbents to win reelection, despite being a part of a less popular institution. Little analysis looks at whether Fenno’s Paradox exists outside of the US in other legislative contexts, or whether incumbency itself or partisan identification is the larger influence. Using 2012 survey data from Taiwan, a mixed member system, this analysis examines individual level divergence between preference for a legislator and institutional preference. Consistent with work in American politics, we find a marginal incumbency advantage, but this effect is attenuated by the partisanship of the district legislator.
... In the UK, much of the 'peacetime' research has focused on content analyses of elected members' personal websites (e.g., Halstead, 2002;Jackson, 2003;Ward and Lusoli, 2005;Vicente-Merino, 2007;Goodchild et al., 2007). In these studies, whilst the parliamentarians themselves have tended to believe that their website is a useful tool for communicating with their constituents, the nature of this communication has been largely one-way, with few opportunities for constituents to enter into two-way, online dialogue with their representatives. ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of Twitter by Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) for the provision of constituency-related information, or in support of their constituency service work.
Design/methodology/approach
– Content analysis of 10,411 tweets sent by the 105 MSPs on Twitter during four weeks in early-2014.
Findings
– While there was some evidence of MSPs on Twitter acting as a promoter of local community interests and as a conduit for information on local policy issues and events, their tweets were dominated by the wider, national, political agenda and by the Scottish independence debate. Compared with their online behaviour as parliamentary candidates three years earlier, MSPs placed an even greater emphasis on the one-way broadcast of information to their followers. They were reluctant to respond to contentious local policy questions, or to enter into any visible, meaningful, political debate with their constituents.
Research limitations/implications
– Although the research was conducted seven months before the Scottish independence referendum on 18 September 2014, the independence debate still dominated proceedings on Twitter. It might, therefore, be appropriate to revisit MSPs’ use of Twitter at some point during a truer “peacetime” period.
Originality/value
– This is the first systematic content analysis of tweets sent by all MSPs on Twitter. It allows the authors to compare their actual Twitter use with that envisaged by the Scottish Parliament, as a way of MSPs communicating about their work and engaging with their constituents.
... Broadly, the two questions that the literature has focused on are: 1) why do parties and candidates go online? (Jackson 2003;Zittel 2007;Gibson, Lusoli et al. 2008) and 2) does going online win parties and candidates any votes? (Gibson and Rommele 2005;Gibson and McAllister 2006;Gibson and McAllister 2008;Williams 2008;Sudulich and Wall 2009;Williams 2009;Sudulich and Wall 2010). ...
This study analyzes online electoral campaigns of candidates for 2011 Presidential Elections in Kyrgyzstan in order to explore interactivity – as a way for improving participation, information, and interest, and the relationships between civil society and parties – within the websites and social network accounts of the candidates. The election involved 19 candidates to the presidency. Total 13 websites, 5 Facebook accounts, 6 Twitter accounts and 4 Odnoklassniki of candidates were monitored during election campaign period of 25 September and 27 October 2011.
DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n9p482
... The Internet has created an opportunity to restructure communication between parliamentarians and their constituents (Zittel 2003;Castells 2009). However, studies have repeatedly shown that parliamentarians are still largely focused on promoting themselves through reporting their parliamentarian activities (Williamson 2009b) and use the web to produce an electorally advantageous impression (Stanyer 2008) rather than truly engaging with the public (Jackson 2003;Vegyte et al. 2008). ...
This chapter discusses the role of social media in national election campaigns, focusing on the 2013 elections in Israel as a case study. Several common themes were found to be characteristic of Israeli electoral politics on social media: (1) Predominantly personal politics; (2) Prominence of anonymous and negative campaigns; (3) Focus on one platform; (4) Symbiotic relationship with traditional media; (5) Increased use of designated technology; (6) High level of civic engagement; and (7) Extensive use of memes and satire. The main reasons for these themes are the users' increased digital literacy, the spread of easy-to-use developing tools, mitigation of the party status and the lack of regulation of online campaigns. Finally, we discuss the reasons for these behavioral practices.
... They are not used as tools of substantive interaction between politicians and citizens, as politicians ignore the reactions from their voters. These devices are just the " architecture of participation " (Jackson – Lilleker, 2009), or " merely a spectacle of interactivity " (Stromer-Galley, 2013: 5) without actually facilitating genuine interaction between politicians and their electorate.The reasons for politicians' avoidance of interactivity are well-known: lack of resources, fear of the loss of control over the message and chance of ambiguity (Stromer – Galley, 2000; Jackson, 2003). Empirical findings show that politicians shape their communication strategy to serve their own political interest of being elected rather than some normative ideal. ...
Conference paper - ECPR Joint Session of Workshop, 2015
... The new millennium signalled the wider application of marketing theory to politics. Areas such as brand equity (French & Smith, 2010;Phipps et al., 2010) and e-marketing (Jackson, 2003) are examples of the move towards expanding beyond a focus on communication. ...
This article will apply cognitive mapping techniques to understand the manner in which political brand equity is formed, and how it differs, across the four largest Irish political parties, from the perspective of citizens. It assesses the fundamental aspects of branding and brand equity in the marketing and political marketing literatures. Primary data were generated in spring 2012 through the participation of 232 citizens in the political brand elicitation stage and a further 75 citizens were involved in creating cognitive maps of brand equity. From the mapping process, we see that Irish political party brands are plagued by a number of negative associations. Fianna Fáil's brand is overshadowed by past mistakes and former leaders with bad reputations; while the Fine Gael brand is wracked by low levels of engagement. This article constitutes the first attempt to measure the political brand equity of Irish political parties.
... Dit beeld zien we ook terug in andere onderzoeken. Brits onderzoek laat zien dat websites van politici dikwijls onregelmatig worden bijgehouden, waardoor deze niet altijd actueel zijn(Jackson, 2003). Er is niet altijd sprake van vernieuwende informatie op sociale media: politici houden vast aan traditionele schriftelijke informatie, filmpjes van politieke speeches en fragmenten die al op televisie zijn uitgezonden. ...
Sociale media als Hyves, Twitter en YouTube zijn de afgelopen jaren explosief gegroeid tot communicatieplatformen die niet meer weg te denken zijn. Volgens sommigen houden deze een belofte in zich om de band van burgers met de overheid en de politiek te versterken en om burgers te activeren maatschappelijke vraagstukken op te pakken.
Dit zou de rol van de overheid en de politiek drastisch kunnen doen veranderen. Veelbesproken voorbeelden uit binnen- en buitenland zouden hun succes te danken hebben aan sociale media, zoals de verkiezingscampagne van Barack Obama, die miljoenen Amerikanen zou hebben gemobiliseerd.
In Veel gekwetter, weinig wol, een boek in de reeks van PM Public Mission, staat de vraag centraal of sociale media deze beloften op dit moment al waar maken. Leiden sociale media daadwerkelijk tot een belangrijke vernieuwing die politiek en overheid ingrijpend doen veranderen? In dit boek worden de resultaten gepresenteerd van een onderzoek naar het gebruik van sociale media door overheden, politici en burgers in Nederland.
... By contrast, websites are essentially one-way modes of communication. The largest portion of most parliamentary or member websites is devoted to giving information to citizens rather than receiving information from them (Jackson 2003, Vicente-Merino, 2007. From this perspective the use of e-mail is an indication of the intent to engage interactively with citizens. ...
ICT-based methods of communication, and especially new forms of social media, offer parliaments the opportunity to communicate with citizens and engage them in the political process more effectively. This is important in a context of declining levels of trust in parliaments where new media is often identified as a tool to address poor engagement with politics. However, the use of ICT poses significant challenges to parliaments, many of which do not readily adopt new technology. As a result, most parliaments have acquired some of the forms and elements of ICT and the new social media, but most have not yet been able to use them in a highly successful manner or incorporate them effectively into their work. Sound management, adequate staff and funding are clearly important. However, cultural and institutional factors, along with how a parliament uses technology, can have as significant an effect as management procedures and financial resources.
... The new millennium signalled the wider application of marketing theory to politics. Areas such as brand equity (French & Smith, 2010;Phipps et al., 2010) and e-marketing (Jackson, 2003) are examples of the move towards expanding beyond a focus on communication. ...
This paper will apply cognitive mapping techniques to understand the manner in which political brand equity is formed and distributed amongst the four largest Irish political parties from the perspective of citizens. It assesses the fundamental aspects of branding and brand equity in the marketing and political marketing literatures and offers and overview of the market in question – the Irish political environment. Primary data was generated through the participation of 232 citizens in the political brand elicitation stage and a further 75 citizens were involved in the construction of the cognitive maps of brand equity. From the mapping process we see that Irish political parties brands are plagued by a number of negative associations. Fianna Fáil’s brand is overshadowed by past mistakes and past leaders with bad reputations; whilst the Fine Gael brand is wracked by low levels of engagement. This paper constitutes the first attempt to measure the political brand equity of Irish political parties.
... In contrast, online extra-institutional activities such as discussing challenging issues online, checking for posted information about protest and submitting news to independent news websites accumulated higher percentages (71.9%, 55.2% and 39.3%, respectively). The results confirm the trend that portrays young people as unimpressed by governmental or political party websites (Bessant, 2004;Segall, 2005), while at the same time being much more attracted to issue-oriented ones (Gerodimos, 2008;Jackson, 2003;Pickerill, 2001). Postmaterialism was found to have a moderate statistically significant correlation to online extra-institutional activism, continuing the offline trend observed. ...
According to Inglehart’s postmaterialist theory, young people brought up in periods of high economic and physical security, surrounded by better opportunities for education, are more likely to prioritise postmaterialist values. Postmaterialists are strongly inclined to support new forms of collective action and extra-institutional activity. Internet researchers have reported that internet users are mainly young, well educated and affluent, thus denoting a similarity to the demographic characteristics of postmaterialists. This article presents some evidence regarding the existence of postmaterialist values in the online realm of Greece, attempting to demonstrate how postmaterialism influences online and offline political activity. The findings indicate a trend on the part of young people to display a postmaterialist orientation, accompanied by a disinterest in traditional forms of political participation. Postmaterialism is positively associated with internet use and is a weak contributing factor to online and offline extra-institutional participation.
Social media are now a routine part of political campaigns all over the world. However, studies of the impact of campaigning on social platform have thus far been limited to cross-sectional datasets from one election period which are vulnerable to unobserved variable bias. Hence empirical evidence on the effectiveness of political social media activity is thin. We address this deficit by analysing a novel panel dataset of political Twitter activity in the 2015 and 2017 elections in the United Kingdom. We find that Twitter based campaigning does seem to help win votes, a finding which is consistent across a variety of different model specifications including a first difference regression. The impact of Twitter use is small in absolute terms, though comparable with that of campaign spending. Our data also support the idea that effects are mediated through other communication channels, hence challenging the relevance of engaging in an interactive fashion.
Social media are seen as a catalyst for personalized politics, and social media activity has, therefore, been used as an indicator of personalized representation. However, this may lead to an overestimation because politicians can behave as party soldiers even on their personal social media platforms. This article proposes that we need to examine the content of politicians’ social media communication to evaluate levels of personalized representation and understand the drivers behind it. Based on a full year’s Facebook activity of Danish members of Parliament including 28,000 updates, this study documents two main results. First, politicians do use Facebook to manage their personal image, but they also attend to their party duties. Attending to content suggests that activity measures overestimate personalized representation by at least 20 percentage points. Second, in contrast to expectations, mainly electorally secure politicians personalize communication on social media, which suggests that vote getters may enjoy more party duty leeway.
This article analyzes social media presence of all parties, leaders, and candidates (PLCs) during Israel’s 2015 electoral campaign, within a transformational era for online campaigns. The article adheres to the theoretical frameworks of normalisation/equalisation hypotheses and personalised politics. Its research design is based on a cross-platform analysis. Findings indicate not only a centralised personalisation trend but rather a depersonalised web sphere. Leaders are more prominent online compared to other candidates; and parties out-perform their leaders, too. Furthermore, findings point to a normalised web sphere, even when referring to new and trendy platforms, revealing that the chances of political newcomers entering the parliamentary arena are scarce.
The fourth chapter will trace the history and purpose, as well as the role and impact of the Internet on election campaigns. Next, it will outline the background of political campaigns and the use of communication strategies in Malaysian general elections from GE12 in 2008 and GE13 in 2013 to the most recent GE14 in 2018.
In the last decade, there has been a major increase in the technology that enables representatives and voters to connect with one another. Representatives can use email, their political party's website, personal websites, Facebook, e-newsletters, weblogs and Twitter simultaneously to bypass the traditional political media. The author asks, what are the usage patterns of these web applications? What are the characteristics of the representatives who use these technologies? What are their attitudes about their use? Most previous studies have concentrated on one perspective (representatives or voters) or used one research method (questionnaires, interviews, hard data). This article is unique in that it combines several research methods: interviews with representatives regarding their attitudes toward the new technology and hard data from the Israeli Knesset's website regarding the MKs' use of web applications. The findings demonstrate that the Israeli representatives are no different than their colleagues in other parliaments. Young MKs and junior MKs are more likely to use web applications than older MKs and those with more seniority. However, coalition MKs use web applications differently than opposition MKs. Furthermore, the representatives have positive attitudes toward the use of web applications and consider them useful for communicating with the voters.
In the last decade, there has been a major increase in the technology that enables representatives and voters to connect with one another. Representatives can use email, their political party's website, personal websites, Facebook, e-newsletters, weblogs and Twitter simultaneously to bypass the traditional political media. The author asks, what are the usage patterns of these web applications? What are the characteristics of the representatives who use these technologies? What are their attitudes about their use? Most previous studies have concentrated on one perspective (representatives or voters) or used one research method (questionnaires, interviews, hard data). This article is unique in that it combines several research methods: interviews with representatives regarding their attitudes toward the new technology and hard data from the Israeli Knesset's website regarding the MKs' use of web applications. The findings demonstrate that the Israeli representatives are no different than their colleagues in other parliaments. Young MKs and junior MKs are more likely to use web applications than older MKs and those with more seniority. However, coalition MKs use web applications differently than opposition MKs. Furthermore, the representatives have positive attitudes toward the use of web applications and consider them useful for communicating with the voters.
Political campaigning on social media is a core feature of contemporary democracy. However, evidence of the effectiveness of this type of campaigning is thin. This study tests three theories linking social media to vote outcomes, using a novel 6,000 observation panel data set from two British elections. We find that Twitter-based campaigning does seem to help win votes. The impact of Twitter use is small, though comparable with campaign spending. Our data suggest that social media campaign effects are achieved through using Twitter as a broadcast mechanism. Despite much literature encouraging politicians to engage with social platforms in an interactive fashion, we find no evidence that this style of communication improves electoral outcomes. In light of our results, theories of how social media are changing processes of campaigns and elections are discussed and enhanced.
This chapter examines the usage of new forms of media to enhance and facilitate political participation. Political participation is examined at differing levels of governance and, in addition, differing types of participation are compared. The usage of new technology, in particular Web 2.0 technology (such as, social networking sites like Facebook™, and the use of micro-blogging sites such as Twitter™), is examined in order to ascertain the extent to which these new approaches facilitate and encourage greater political participation amongst young people. New technology might be the way for young people to mobilise and activate their potential power and for them to utilise the strength afforded to them by their numbers. The notion of an online community or e-democracy might be a factor that particularly appeals to young people.
This chapter analyses the features of development of the e-Parliament in Lithuania. It describes a unique situation in the country where, since 1990, a representative legislative institution has been successfully developed from the outset together with information and communication technologies. Using documentary analysis, statistical information, and research from websites of members of the Parliament, it discusses the e-Parliament development model in the Parliament of Lithuania, its implementation, and results. It shows to what extent information technologies support the legislative process and help to build a relationship between democratic institutions and citizens in Lithuania. It describes future changes of the legislative process in Lithuania related to implementation of the information technologies. Conclusions are based on Lithuania's experience in developing e-Parliament.
The use of the internet as an important political marketing tool has been recognized by elected representatives as their websites become more and more active, while their maturity level grows. Providing an evaluation framework, which underlines among other important issues the maturity level of the website on the web, we offer ways members of parliament (MPs) can upgrade their web activities and operate in an e-democracy environment. The proposed four-maturity stage framework is cross-national and can be applied to any political actor website. The advantage of the proposed framework over other attempts is the importance it attaches to user needs in maintaining their interest on the website. This framework has the added advantage to evaluate and compare websites along a maturity four-maturity stage ladder starting from online presence progressing to interactivity stage, advancing to an e-democracy stage, and culminating in the final integration stage. The proposed framework is applied to MPs' websites of the Greek parliament, revealing interesting patterns.
This chapter discusses the role and effectiveness of UK parliamentary public information services in both servicing the needs of the general public for information about government and also in communicating positive messages about the work of government. The authors argue that there is tension between both roles in terms of service philosophy and that this tension may have resulted in neither function being adequately achieved. Research results suggest that present practice, particularly in terms of web service delivery, is failing to engage the public in the political process and that government must rethink strategies for attracting users to their websites.
This article discusses the results of an exploratory study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which investigated the impact of technology on the communication of parliamentary information to the general public in the United Kingdom. As Stage 1 of the project, interviews were conducted with representatives of the public information services of the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Stage 2 consisted of interactive, electronically-assisted interviews, delivered in a roadshow environment, where members of the public were given the opportunity to explore, and provide critical feedback on, parliamentary websites.
Within this article we examine the adherence to the conventions of online communication and hypermedia campaigning techniques among European political parties using UK parties as a case study. Overall we find UK political parties adapting to the norms of online communication and a hypermedia campaign model. The Internet is also a feature of the permanent campaign and having a vibrant, frequently updated and interactive web presence is, almost, de rigueur, though sophistication is hindered by resources. One corollary may be that members feel closer to the party, though techniques for achieving this are explored to a greater extent by opposition parties rather than those of government suggesting campaigning norms prevail and there is little indication parties wish to relinquish any of the power over ‘doing’ politics. (Read fro free at http://cp.revues.org/1038)
Using a marketing perspective, this study investigates why candidates adopted Facebook and Twitter in the 2010 elections to the U.S. Congress. Our content analysis of 62 interviews with candidates and campaign staff members provides a richer explanation for the factors underlying these decisions. This relatively large sample of House races affords the opportunity to investigate differences between Democrats and Republicans as well as between incumbents and those who are challengers or contesting open seats. The sample is sufficiently representative that our findings should generalize to the larger population. In assessing the value of social media use, campaigns generally espouse a cautious if not negative view. Regarding market segmentation, many campaigns are not targeting particular groups in adopting social media, but focus on young voters when they do. Finally, campaigns are more focused on communicating their positions (product orientation) than mobilizing or engaging voters through social media (sales and market orientation).
This paper explores Internet tools used for consensus building during the 2010 Italian regional elections, especially focusing on the use of the Internet to involve the electorate in a background of political disaffection. Previous experience from the United States and European countries suggests that the Internet is an interesting tool for the creation and development of consensus, and shows an increasing use of Internet-based communication for elections. In this context, the research has two objectives. The first is to measure the degree of use of Internet tools by the main candidates to develop participation in several local areas, more limited than those traditionally investigated in the literature: to this end, we used the technique of analysis of site functionality, properly integrated to make it suitable for measuring the use of tools for participation, to compute for each candidate a reliable index of participation. Secondly, the work aims to understand how different contexts of electoral competition may encourage or lessen the inclination to use Internet communication tools in a participative sense. The analysis reveals a positive correlation between the affiliation of the candidate for the ruling party and the tendency for this candidate to use tools of participation more than the competitor.
The current research examines the ability of legislators to get re-elected by their fulfilling their three roles: legislation, oversight and representation. This study also re-examines Mayhew's (1974) claim that most legislators are motivated by a desire to be re-elected, and that this desire determines the utility of their legislative activity toward this end by advertising, credit claiming and position taking. We argue that different skills are required to be selected as a party’s choice and be re-elected, and to enact legislation. Thus, we distinguish between two types of legislators—those who are electable and those who are successful in the legislature
Web 2.0 has heralded a networked, participatory and conversational culture reaching beyond national borders and cultures, reshaping communicational hierarchies and thus creating a new set of communicative rules. Web 2.0 offers political actors a potentially effective means of building a relationship with activists, supporters and possibly floating voters. The cost, however, is that the interactive nature of these technologies requires some loss of control of political discourse. Election campaigning tends to be synonymous with top-down, persuasive and propaganda-style communication which aims to win the support of voters crucial for the victory of a candidate or party. While this remains as the dominant paradigm for understanding campaigns, the use of Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms challenges this notion. Emerging in 2005, Web 2.0 ushered in a networked, participatory culture to be observed online with tools facilitating asynchronous or symmetrical conversations to take place within a variety of online environments. This participatory and conversational culture, like the Internet itself, reaches beyond national borders and cultures, reshaping communicational hierarchies, thus creating a new set of communicative rules. Web 2.0 applications raise significant questions for political parties and individual candidates in terms of how they might use the Internet for building relationships with activists, supporters and possibly floating voters. Through the systematic measurement of the usage of Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms—embedded within or linked to—from the websites of six UK parties we analyse the use of the Internet, and in particular Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms, during the 2010 general election in the UK. We find that differing strategies emerge between parties, with some withdrawing from interactive feature use. Where Web 2.0 features are employed they are largely within discrete areas aimed at building contact with communities of supporters, but largely these are geared towards electoral objectives and not harnessing the collective wisdom of party networks to inform policy. Election campaigning tends to be synonymous with top-down, persuasive and propaganda-style communication which aims to win the support of voters crucial for the victory of a candidate or party. While this remains as the dominant paradigm for understanding campaigns, the use of Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms challenges this notion. Emerging in 2005, Web 2.0 has heralded a networked, participatory culture to be observed online with tools facilitating asynchronous or symmetrical conversations to take place within a variety of online environments. This participatory and conversational culture, like the Internet itself, reaches beyond national borders and cultures, reshapes communicational hierarchies, so creating a new set of communicative rules. Web 2.0 applications raises significant questions for political parties and individual candidates in terms of how they might use the Internet for building relationships with activists, supporters and possibly floating voters. Through the systematic measurement of the usage of Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms embedded within or linked to from six party websites we analyse the use of the Internet, and in particular Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms, during the general election in the UK 2010. We find differing strategies emerge between parties, with some withdrawing from interactive feature use. Where Web 2.0 features are employed they are largely within discrete areas aimed at building contact with communities of supporters, but largely these are geared towards electoral objectives and not harnessing the collective wisdom of party networks to inform policy.
This article examines and compares the growth and prevalence of MPs' blogging in the UK and Canada. We explore the scope and objectives of such blogs, assess their democratic significance and analyse the institutional and systemic features that help shape the blogosphere. Diverging patterns of adoption were found: the number of blogs have increased in the UK but withered in Canada, where party discipline has been heavily imposed. This illustrates the impact the wider systemic environment can have on the adoption of new technologies. Ultimately, it is concluded that while there is evidence of a potential for MPs' blogs to serve as spaces for debate and conversation, the current majority resemble the traditional style soapbox where few listen let alone take the time to engage. However, there is some early evidence to show that blogs might in fact have a great deal of potential in personality driven, and internal party, election campaigns which have a niche, but highly attentive audience.
MPs have traditionally relied on the organisation and image of their national Party for the bulk of their voter support, but constituency service is probably more relevant for electoral success than at any other time in history. So far, however, new technology has had a very limited impact on the constituency role of MPs. The emergence of email represents potentially a ‘killer app’ which might revolutionize the way MPs approach re-election. One of the main effects of email is to encourage MPs to consider techniques and terms in common business usage, such as direct marketing and segmentation of their key audiences. By looking at how MPs use email to support their constituency role, this article assesses whether MPs use email as part of a relationship marketing strategy, a traditional transitory marketing approach or ignore marketing altogether. The marketing approach taken, combined with the resources available, will determine whether MPs use email only because they think they should or because they have grasped the campaigning opportunities it represents.
Introduction PART ONE: THE SELF, IDENTITY AND BODY IN THE AGE OF THE VIRTUAL Virtual Identity - David Holmes Communities of Broadcast, Communities of Interactivity Virtual Worlds/Virtual Bodies - Cathryn Vasseleu Beyond Being Digital - Nicola Green The Semiotics of Technics An Ontology of Digital Domains - Chris Chesher The Subject of Virtual Reality - Simon Cooper Plenitude vs Alienation This Abstract Body - Paul James and Freya Carkeek PART TWO: POLITICS AND COMMUNITY IN VIRTUAL WORLDS Virtual Urban Futures - Michael Ostwald Community in the Abstract - Michele Willson A Political and Ethical Dilemma? What Space Is Cyberspace? - Mark Nunes The Internet and Virtuality Always Already Virtual - Patricia Wise Feminist Politics in Cyberspace Virtual Reality and the New Age - Chris Zigiuras The Technologisation of the Sacred Cyberdemocracy - Mark Poster Internet and the Public Sphere
The notion that political marketing occurs only during formal campaign periods is discarded in the political marketing literature. Political campaigns, rather than being periodic, are “permanent”. Accordingly, the attention of political marketers must increasingly turn to the analysis of how and when politicians serve their communities or constituencies. Indeed, the kinds of services commonly associated with political influence and constituency activity indicate a convergence of politics and public sector service provision. In this essay, the nature and effects of constituency-focused service delivery are examined as an integral part of political marketing.
Now that we have entered the new millennium in politics, it is clear that the machinery of the “old politics” that was centered on a party-orientation is being replaced by computers of the “new politics” that is centered on an image manufacturing-orientation. Along with this movement comes a highly integrated marketing strategy that is driven by a candidate’s inner circle of advisors who now control the money and message of both the party and candidate organization. This makes for a very easy transition from election to governing, as the top advisors during the campaign become top advisors to the leader and the key architects of the party administration. All of the advanced marketing techniques and tools that have been used in politics over the past several years are becoming more sharply focused on one central theme, and that is to manufacture a winning image for the leader and his/her party. The 2000 US Presidential Election will be used as a case in point to examine how this process works and what impact it will have on politics in the future.
Offering a response to the crisis of political communication, this text examines the potential applications of new information and communication technologies to the political process. Its contributors explore the question of whether the immense developments in the means of communicating information (based upon digital technologies, the convergence of computers and telecommunications, and the extraordinary development of internet technology) profoundly affect the way that parliamentary democracy operates.
Research into major party behaviour in Britain from a political marketing perspective finds that political marketing is broad in scope and offers fresh analytical tools to explain how political organizations behave. It is nevertheless a marriage between political science and marketing. It borrows the core marketing concepts of product, sales and market-orientation, and techniques such as market intelligence, and adapts them to suit traditional tenets of political science to produce an integrated theoretical framework. A party that takes a product-orientation argues for what it stands for and believes in. A Sales-Orientated party focuses on selling its argument and product to voters. A Market-Orientated party designs its behaviour to provide voter satisfaction. Exploring these three orientations demonstrates that political marketing can be applied to a wide range of behaviour and suggests its potential to be applied to several areas of political studies.
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Colleges Should Tap the Pedagogical Potential of the World Wide Web Virtual Politics: Identity and Community in CyberspaceThe Marriage of Politics and Marketing
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