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Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, and Consequences of Social Media Campaigning: Lessons from Municipal Facebook Campaigning, Israel 2013

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Abstract and Figures

Facebook has recently emerged as a central communicative arena for political representatives and constituencies. Still, there are very few studies about Facebook usage in municipal campaigns. The paper adds to this literature by presenting a comprehensive picture of the scope, character and impact of Facebook usage, and the perceptions of candidates about it, based on data collected on 2013 municipal elections in Israel. The first part of the paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews with 67 candidates running for heads of municipalities about their views on Facebook use, the advantages and drawbacks of political activity on Facebook, and the perceived impact of Facebook activity on election results. Findings indicate that contenders consider Facebook as an arena that offers opportunities but is also replete with danger; above all, they feel that presence on Facebook is obligatory. They do not believe that Facebook activity significantly increases the share of votes they receive, but they are convinced that their absence from Facebook would have a negative impact on their election prospects. The second part of the paper studies which variables influence engagement on Facebook campaign pages, and whether Facebook activity, along with institutional and population-level variables, influences the vote share that candidates receive. Using the Facebook activity of 387 candidates running in the municipal elections, it was found that institutional variables (primarily size of constituency and incumbency status) had a significant impact on the scope of Facebook engagement. The impact of Facebook activity on election results is positive but slim. The third part of the paper presents findings from a visual analysis of images from the Facebook pages of contenders. The analysis demonstrates massive use of images, but often unprofessionally and lacking clear goals; Secondary use of made-for-print materials like stickers and posters, alongside the near-complete absence of made-for-Facebook materials like collages and memes; and lastly, focus on images of supporters instead of candidates.
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149© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
M. Z. Sobacı, İ. Hatipoğlu (eds.), Sub-National Democracy and Politics
Through Social Media, Public Administration and Information Technology 29,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73386-9_8
Chapter 8
Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects,
andConsequences ofSocial Media
Campaigning: Lessons fromMunicipal
Facebook Campaigning, Israel 2013
AziLev-On
Abstract Facebook has recently emerged as a central communicative arena for
political representatives and constituencies. Still, there are very few studies about
Facebook usage in municipal campaigns. The paper adds to this literature by pre-
senting a comprehensive picture of the scope, character and impact of Facebook
usage, and the perceptions of candidates about it, based on data collected on 2013
municipal elections in Israel. The rst part of the paper presents ndings from semi-
structured interviews with 67 candidates running for heads of municipalities about
their views on Facebook use, the advantages and drawbacks of political activity on
Facebook, and the perceived impact of Facebook activity on election results.
Findings indicate that contenders consider Facebook as an arena that offers oppor-
tunities but is also replete with danger; above all, they feel that presence on Facebook
is obligatory. They do not believe that Facebook activity signicantly increases the
share of votes they receive, but they are convinced that their absence from Facebook
would have a negative impact on their election prospects. The second part of the
paper studies which variables inuence engagement on Facebook campaign pages,
and whether Facebook activity, along with institutional and population-level vari-
ables, inuences the vote share that candidates receive. Using the Facebook activity
of 387 candidates running in the municipal elections, it was found that institutional
variables (primarily size of constituency and incumbency status) had a signicant
impact on the scope of Facebook engagement. The impact of Facebook activity on
election results is positive but slim. The third part of the paper presents ndings
from a visual analysis of images from the Facebook pages of contenders. The analy-
sis demonstrates massive use of images, but often unprofessionally and lacking
clear goals; Secondary use of made-for-print materials like stickers and posters,
alongside the near-complete absence of made-for-Facebook materials like collages
and memes; and lastly, focus on images of supporters instead of candidates.
A. Lev-On (*)
School of Communication Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
150
8.1 Theoretical Framework
8.1.1 Facebook Usage inPolitical Campaigns
Scholars have long praised the advantages of online interactivity for political cam-
paigns (Morris and Ogan 1996; Sundar etal. 2003; Utz 2009). However, analysis of
the political usage of the Internet found that interactive features, such as forums and
chatrooms, were rarely used by candidates. Studies also demonstrated that Websites
tended to be active exclusively during the campaign season, and, even then, the
majority of parties used their the website as a tool to disseminate information and to
make secondary use of content that was created for the ofine campaign (Gibson
and Ward 2009: Lilleker and Vedel 2013).
Israeli Studies consistently found that the interactive use of the Internet has been
almost absent in a variety of political contexts, including the websites of MPs
(Haleva-Amir 2011), municipalities (Purian-Lukach 2011), and municipal web
campaigning in 2008, the cycle of municipal elections that preceded the campaigns
covered in the current chapter (Lev-On 2011).
This situation may have arguably changed with the advent of Facebook. Facebook
is the world’s largest social media platform, exceeding one billion users in 2014,
and Israel is a promising arena to study Facebook campaigning. According to
Internet World Stats, in December 2013 the Israeli Internet penetration reached
70.8%, compared to the global average of 34.3%. Israel has also been a world leader
in Facebook usage in terms of the percentage of the population who uses it and the
average time users spend on it (ComScore 2011). Israeli MPs (Members of
Parliament) also are strongly invested in Facebook. In 2010, the Director General of
the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) urged all MPs to open a Facebook page (Mako
2010). As of 2015, 105 MPs out of 120 (87.5%) had Facebook pages (author).
Evidence also conrms substantial penetration of social media at the municipal
level: In 2013, 43 of Israel’s 75 municipalities had active Facebook pages.
Even before the advent of Facebook, researchers recognized the potential role of
online social media not only as a tool for information dissemination and image
building, but also for establishing and maintaining political representatives’ ties
with the public (Coleman 2004; Coleman and Blumler 2009; Williamson 2009).
Facebook appears to support such aspirations: Establishing and maintaining
Facebook presence is less expensive and more intuitive than establishing and oper-
ating a website. Facebook makes it possible for candidates to conduct dialogues
with voters, send messages in a very broad distribution, and oversee their reach and
penetration. The fact that the information is shared by “friends” may also create
legitimacy for these messages and lead to signicant exposure (Utz 2009).
Equivalently, from the standpoint of political online users, accessing a Facebook
page may be much more integrated into their daily Internet routine: they do not have
to go out of their way to access political websites.
Early Facebook uses by politicians were also characterized by concerns from its
interactive features, and often contenders use Facebook as a supplemental vehicle
A. Lev-On
151
for conveying messages, similarly to their use of traditional media, without making
any effort to genuinely involve voters or introduce novel materials and operating
techniques (Bürger and Ross 2014). In recent years, though, Facebook has been
used by an increasing number of politicians both during their term in ofce and dur-
ing election campaigning. A signicant portion of politicians even engage in “per-
manent Facebook campaigning” (Larsson 2014; Jackson and Lilleker 2011).
8.1.2 Online Municipal Campaigning
Despite their perceived importance, most studies have found that Facebook have
little effect on national election participation rates and results (Boulianne 2015;
Bond etal. 2012; Cameron etal. 2016; Williams and Gulati 2007, 2008). Still, few
studies examined social media impact on the municipal level and present a more
nuanced picture. In Canada, Wagner (2015) used a nationwide survey of 307 candi-
dates to various municipal ofceholders between 2010 and 2012, and found that
although only few of them used the Internet, a positive correlation was found
between Internet presence and vote share. Sobaci etal. (2015) found a positive cor-
relation between Twitter presence and vote share in the 2014 Turkish local elec-
tions. Finally, in a study of Facebook usage in the Greek 2014 municipal elections,
Lappas etal. (2015) found that while only 30% of the candidates had a Facebook
page, Facebook usage and number of fans were correlated with candidates’ vote
shares.
Studying municipal campaigning is important for several counts. First, local
elections typically involve large number of contenders in a many cities, whose cam-
paigns run concurrently. Studying these campaigns provides detailed picture of the
distribution of Facebook’s political uses, enabling to compare uses of different cam-
paigns and look for correlations between uses and election results. Second, the
number of voters in municipal elections is minor compared to national elections,
and local elections may be determined by a small number of votes. In such tight
races, and more than in the national level, Facebook usage might make the differ-
ence between defeat and victory (author). Third, partisan identication is weaker at
the municipal level compared to the national. Voters’ behavior appears to be better
predicted by political ideology and party afliation than by media messages
(Johnson etal. 2010); since elections are more strongly affected by party politics
and ideologies in the national rather than municipal level, it is extremely important
to focus on the municipal level. Lastly, the low cost of Facebook use also becomes
an important consideration in local campaigns that typically have more limited
resources compared to national campaigns.
Studies address variables, which may affect the usage of the Internet in general
and social media in particular, in campaigning. Most importantly, incumbency. New
contenders are disadvantaged by under-exposure as they run against incumbents
whose activities are regularly reported (Author; Herrnson etal. 2007; Lappas etal.
2015; Wagner and Gainous 2009). However, Williams and Gulati (2012)
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
152
demonstrated that “incumbents have more capacity to generate the content that con-
stitutes or creates usage” (p.65), a suggestion that seems at least partially valid in
our context as well.
Another variable that affects the scope of Facebook use is the size of the local
authority; Contenders’ digital activity tends to increase with the number of eligible
voters; as their number grows, contenders are increasingly challenged to reach vot-
ers using conventional ofine canvassing methods (Author; Lappas et al. 2015;
Wagner 2015). In addition, intensive Facebook activity can better assist contenders
in municipalities with younger population who is more educated and has higher
income (author).
8.1.3 Visual Aspects ofOnline Campaigning
Over the years, studies started looking on the visual aspects of online campaigning
as well, and how the visual dimension enables candidates to build and enhance their
image, highlighted specic issues and hided others by distributing certain pictures
(Stalsburg and Kleinberg 2016).
Many studies analyzed photography’s role as part of elections propaganda, den-
ing visual criteria for careful examination of pictures taken during campaigns.
Among others, they mentioned the contender’s looks, use of hands, dress and more.
These studies explained how the actual implementation of these criteria promotes
positive or negative image of the contender (Moriarty and Garramone 1986). Yet,
while the study of images has become a central part in the analysis of national cam-
paigns (Hacker 1995), we are not familiar with academic studies of the visual
aspects of municipal campaigning, and this is the unique contribution of the current
paper.
8.1.4 Case Background
The author found extensive use of Facebook in the municipal elections of 2013: 316
of the 378 contenders in the Jewish sector (83.6%) operated a Facebook page. These
pages were operated by contenders nationwide, with the exception of the Haredi
(ultra-orthodox) sector who made no use of Facebook at all.
We focused on the Jewish sector only, due to the historical segregation between
Jews and Arabs, both in pre-state and independent Israel (Kaminski and Bar-Tal
1996), which is reected in geographic divisions between these two sectors. This
segregation between local governments with a Jewish population and those with an
Arab population makes it impossible to compare Internet uses in political cam-
paigns in both sectors. It appears that the two societies signicantly differ on their
new media usage patterns during election campaigns: in the 2008 municipal elec-
tions, 50% of all Jewish candidates operated personal websites, yet less than 5% of
A. Lev-On
153
the Arab candidates, 8 of 213, did so (author). In the 2013 elections, this rate rose to
122 of 314 contenders in the Arab-Palestinian sector (38.9%).
Elsewhere, Author attributes this sparse use of new media in Arab-Palestinian
municipalities to the dominance of Hamulas (clans), unique social structures among
the agrarian Arab population in the Middle East, which are consisted of groups of
people related by a common ancestral lineage. Hamula membership is a key ele-
ment in the self-identication of man Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. Thus, a
typical Arab municipality includes two to four Hamulas that usually live in different
areas. In the municipal elections of 2003, only 11 mayors and heads of municipal
councils were elected based on political party afliation, while the other 42 were
elected based on family afliation. In addition, Hamulas appear to be the source of
required information of individuals in order to vote in municipal elections.
Furthermore, vital campaign activities, such as activist recruitment and persuasion,
are also dominated by interpersonal and clan relationships (Mustafa 2005).
8.2 Methods
The study used analysis of candidates’ Facebook presence, interviews with a sam-
ple of the candidates and qualitative visual analysis of the photos on their page, to
generate a comprehensive and well-rounded picture of municipal Facebook cam-
paigning in Israel, 2013.
8.2.1 Data Collection
The 2013 municipal elections were held in 111 Jewish local authorities throughout
Israel, in which a total of 387 contenders ran for mayoral ofce. The names of con-
tenders were obtained from the Israeli Ministry of Interior Affairs 1month before
the elections, after all contenders were ofcially approved as candidates. The num-
ber of eligible voters in each municipality was obtained from the website of the
election comptroller. After the elections, we calculated the number of candidates in
each municipality, as well as number of votes and vote shares received by each
candidate. We recognized incumbent mayors using the website of the Administration
of Local Authorities. As a proxy of election competitiveness, two indexes were cre-
ated: the number of contenders in each municipality and the difference between the
percentages of votes received by the winner and by the runner up. In order to ana-
lyze the impact of population variables on the scope of Facebook activity and can-
didate vote shares, data of the relevant variables was collected from the Israeli
Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). These variables included the social economic
cluster (reecting socio-economic status), the median age and education of the
municipality’s residents. As a proxy of educational attainment, the percentage of
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
154
residents between the ages of 17 and 18 who received their matriculation certicate
from the Ministry of Education was used.
Locating Candidate Facebook and website presence: Using the contenders’
names received from the ofce of the elections comptroller, we searched the Internet
for candidate websites among the top 500 results in the Google search engine, three
times for each candidate. Candidate websites were located and archived for com-
parison purposes, although no additional analysis of the website data was
conducted.
After locating candidates’ Facebook pages, all their data were backed up for an
entire month prior to the election day using ‘Netvizz’, an application which extracts
data using Facebook’s API.We archived all the data relevant to Facebook activity,
including number of posts, Number of likes, comments, shares in the month prior to
the elections, and cumulative engagement (cumulative number of likes, comments,
comment likes, and shares) in the month prior to the elections. The number of fans
was recorded manually on Election Day.
An average of 80.2 posts were uploaded to the interviewees’ Facebook pages in
the month preceding the elections, attracting an average of 2878.5 likes in that
period.
8.2.2 Interviews
We conducted interviews with 67 contenders who operated Facebook pages during
the 2013 municipal elections. The interviews were conducted by telephone at a date
and time that was scheduled in advance with the interviewees, recorded and tran-
scribed. The interviews were conducted 4months after the elections, and typically
lasted 15 to 20minutes. The interviews were conducted in Hebrew, by two inter-
viewees who were trained by the PI of this study.
The interviews included questions concerning candidates’ general media strat-
egy and specically their Internet strategy, their presence in social networks, the
aims of their Facebook activities, their Facebook uses, their opinions of the most
effective political activity on social networks, and their impact.
In selecting the interviewees, we carefully maintained a representative cross-
section of those factors that had been found to predict new media use in previous
studies. The sample therefore included 40 candidates who ran against an incumbent,
8 contenders who ran against other non-incumbents, and 19 incumbents. Of the 67
interviewees, 10 ran for ofce in large local authorities (more than 100,000 resi-
dents); 14 in towns of 50,000–100,000 residents; 16 in towns of 20,000–50,000
residents; 8in towns of 10,000–20,000, and 19in towns of less than 10,000 resi-
dents. 22 of our interviewees won the elections, while 45 lost. After concluding the
interviews, we performed a thematic analysis of the material and identied four
major themes. We then associated these themes to previous studies and literature of
the eld.
A. Lev-On
155
8.2.3 Qualitative Visual Analysis
The last method used in this study is based on a semiotic visual analysis by Zinger
(2015), who used the same data for analysis but focus on the visual aspect of the
campaigns: More than 25,000 pictures, which had published by 376 contenders of
99 municipalities on their ofcial Facebook pages during the 45days prior to the
elections day (October 22nd, 2013). First, a preliminary examination of wide mass
of pictures presented by contenders during their Facebook campaign was made.
Second, following an additional examination, an identication process was made in
order to gather similar pictures into specic categories which may indicate similar
creation circumstances (Zinger 2015).
8.3 Findings
8.3.1 Candidates Usage ofFacebook asa‘Showcase’
Facebook appeared to function for most candidates as rst and foremost communi-
cation channel in which they could introduce themselves, their goals and plans.
They perceived Facebook as a tool of “exposure, exposure, exposure…. Only expo-
sure, that’s all” (A.A.), which was designated “to convey our credo and report on
our activities” (A.Y.).
Despite its perceived importance for contenders, only a few developed unique
campaign materials for Facebook. A considerable share of the interviewees used
this platform to reproduce information and materials, such as articles or posters,
disseminated on other channels. “Everything that was published in print was also
uploaded to Facebook,” explained K.B., “because on Facebook we could see how
many people viewed it.Another interviewee, H.B., expressed a similar attitude:
We did most of our online activities on Facebook, in contrast to the last time when we
developed a special website…Facebook was an integral part of this campaign, and every-
thing that appeared in the press or on billboards also appeared on Facebook.
While addressing the type of contents that appeared on their Facebook page,
most candidates described static contents, such as photos of the candidate with their
teams, and schedules of campaign events. As one candidate stated, “Facebook was
our showcase window.” Thus, S.L. stated that his main purpose was “to expose
what I did in my term in ofce…and then to convey the messages, through slogans
and clips.” A.E. claried this context: “most of our Facebook use was to present
information about our accomplishments in various domains: education, personal
security, culture, employment.”
Several candidates noted that a signicant portion of their Facebook activity was
designed to attract the attention of potential supporters by presenting their appear-
ances on traditional media. This strategy included the use of features that appeared
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
156
in the press or radio interviews. E.D., for example, used Facebook in order “to let
people know that I had an interview here today, and I will also have an interview
there tomorrow.
Candidates made little attempt to use Facebook as an extensive tool of direct
interactions with the public, or use its unique interactive features. Such as surveys,
chats, and interactive games. Their interaction with the public were typically limited
to responses to readers’ comments. D.Y. referred to this issue: “You can’t say that
we were doing something very active over there…sometimes questions were posted,
and we answered them, but it didn’t extend beyond that; we didn’t really make more
than supercial use of Facebook.” All candidates agreed on the importance of replies
to questions and comments: “I never left any question unanswered," stated A.G.,
“all residents’ questions and comments always received a response.
Most candidates assigned specic staff members in charge of operating their
Facebook page, just as they did for other media channels. For example:
My principle was that if it could be done by someone other than me- then that person should
do it. So, I let my staff handle it and I went out to meet with voters and knock on people’s
doors. [Z.B.]
Yet others, such as A.B., had to operate their Facebook activity by themselves:
“I did the writing. Unfortunately, there was no one else to do that…It would have
been better if someone else had done it and relieved me.
The interviewees suggested factors that affected their decisions to use Facebook,
and its perceived effectiveness. One important factor was incumbency. Facebook
was considered especially valuable for new contenders; “new faces” who entered
the scene had to quickly inform many potential voters about their candidacy. Most
of the new contenders believed Facebook to be ideal for this purpose, as demon-
strated by M.K.:
I wasn’t well known in the city…I wasn’t involved in the community. To introduce a prod-
uct on the market… we developed a product called M.K., and Facebook did well in putting
him on the shelves… I owe quite a debt to Facebook.
Nonetheless, E.A., a longstanding mayor underscored the difference between
incumbents and newcomers’ access to materials used on Facebook:
You have to distinguish between an incumbent and someone who is running for the rst
time… I entered the race with a track record, with a lot of accomplishments, and so I had
something to show on Facebook and in the campaign in general. My entire campaign was
based on my proven track record. I think that in my case, Facebook’s impact was
marginal.
Facebook’s campaign value was also perceived differently by contenders from
small towns compared to contenders from large cities. While the latter considered
Facebook as an important tool, all the contenders from small towns downplayed its
signicance for their campaigns. They felt that personal meetings with voters were
more important, as well as A.Y.: “When you go around from one person to another
and establish trust with a person- this has a multiplier effect on that person’s family,
and possibly his friends and neighbors. The real communications are unmediated
A. Lev-On
157
ones.” In addition, Facebook activities were much more intense in larger towns and
cities, and candidates had quite opposing attitude toward Facebook use, such as
Y.B: “[Facebook] is the public square, and the public square is very fertile ground;
it’s not a burden but rather an opportunity to reach people.
8.3.2 Facebook’s Advantages
The candidates’ attitudes toward Facebook were based on their awareness of its
popularity among potential voters, especially youth. Moreover, campaigners were
aware of these users’ low interest of other local media. Y.O. perfectly explained this
context:
The new generation of voters is less interested with traditional media… and even Websites
interest them less. Today you need Facebook, you need interactivity, you need someone to
respond, and… to update it on a daily basis and post new things. That’s why I think that
[Facebook] has added value, assuming, of course, that you do it right.
Interviewees also mentioned various additional advantages of Facebook, such as
the ability to maintain multiple pages in order to attract different audience groups.
I.S., for example, mentioned “other pages which were operated concurrently with
my main page: A page in Russian, and a page for young people. Both were operated
independently.
Many contenders, predominantly politicians with limited media coverage and
resources, noted that Facebook is an inexpensive advertising platform compared to
traditional media. As a result, Facebook constitutes an accessible and inexpensive
way to create signicant public exposure. Another advantage was the absence of
gatekeepers and Facebook’s complete independence of traditional media. This fac-
tor was mentioned by several new contenders, who argued that the local press was
biased against them due to its partial funding by incumbent mayors. One contender
was E.K.:
I entered the race as a new player, and all the previous actors had a lot more coverage in the
press, especially the incumbent mayor, because he’s the one who funds it… My exposure
there is much more limited than the mayor’s, and so most of my work really concentrated
on Facebook.
Another factor that emerged in the interviews was the ability to measure the
reception of campaign messages. Facebook offers estimations of a message’s recep-
tion, either through quantitative measures such as the number of fans, post likes,
comments and shares, or through a more sophisticated analysis available through
pages’ control panels. Candidates stated that they frequently check the number of
likes and new fans, as well as the number of people who merely read the message.
For instance:
Few people reacted on my page, since we were on a serious confrontation with the incum-
bent mayor, who is aggressive and vindictive. We quickly understood that if people like
[something on our page], to say nothing of positive responses to our posts, they could get
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
158
all kinds of nes and stuff… [Still], we knew how many people viewed the page even if they
didn’t respond, post, or like anything… That was really the only measure available to us.
[K.B.]
A small number of candidates noted that Facebook makes it possible for people
to contribute to contenders’ campaigns in different ways according to their free
time, interest, and expertise. O.R. exampled it well:
On the Facebook campaign, I saw many people who would probably not have felt comfort-
able to go out to the city square waving ags, [but they felt comfortable] to design banners
and posters, and they felt that that was an interesting contribution that they could offer, and
they triggered a wave of activism. Residents increasingly showed their creativity on this
platform as the elections approached.
Although only a few candidates initiated interactive Facebook uses, interviewees
generally conrmed the importance of interactive uses and personal contact, focus-
ing on the sense of familiarity this can generate with voters:
It’s also good to show people who you are: I did it and that, I was this and that, I studied this
and that, and then maybe people would say, ‘oh, you went to school with my brother, or my
son’… and conversations develop. [Z.N.]
Among the contenders who did initiate interactive activities, some demonstrated
their designation of active engagement of residents. Candidates had both negative
and positive attitudes towards it. R.M exampled the latter: “we initiated activities
on Facebook, especially on election day. We posted songs of social change, and
anyone who wanted to could propose a song. It was a real celebration!” However,
other interviewees perceived this engagement more negatively, such as S.L.:
I tried, and I even conducted some conversations about local issues… I have 10,000 resi-
dents [but only] 30-40 people participated in the debate… The responses were marginal
compared to the number of residents or the number of people for whom the issue was
relevant.
8.3.3 Facebook Disadvantages
Most of the candidates were concerned about the outpouring of criticism, including
rude and offensive comments from ctitious pages, which require incessant atten-
tion and resources to handle. Many contenders experienced an acute dilemma of
whether to delete offensive posts or leave them visible for the public to see. Most of
them chose not to delete posts or ban protesters, mainly because they were con-
cerned of the way this action would be perceived:
If you remove every person who writes something critical [then] everyone watching, or at
least to some of them, see that your conduct is arbitrary and you lose out. In other words,
you have to ban people who use inammatory speech, or curse, or are disrespectful of oth-
ers, but there is no problem with everyone else, even if they are critical or even voice strong
criticism. [R.B.]
A. Lev-On
159
It appears that contenders’ reactions were inuenced by their personalities. Many
of them recounted that they responded to the comments that they found relevant and
ignored offensive posts. Other contenders, such as E.S., chose not to respond to
comments at all:
No Facebook campaign is free of “incidents”– you might be the target of outright slander…
the question is how you respond. If you get stressed out and agitated, then you will get
dragged down to places where you don’t want to nd yourself. I decided that I wouldn’t be
a part of that, and then they just go away.
Many contenders expressed concerns about users who were “sent” by their oppo-
nents to sabotage their Facebook activity, either by mudslinging and spreading lies
or by provoking heated arguments on controversial topics on the page. E.M. dem-
onstrated that “the fact that you can be slandered endlessly by some unnamed per-
son and by ‘foot soldiers’ whose sole purpose is to slander you- that’s the big
disadvantage of Facebook.
Many contenders mentioned the extensive work and problems entailed in main-
taining their Facebook page. K.B. highlighted the fact that “maintaining [a Facebook
page] is hard work. You have to be ‘up to date’ all the time, supply materials, know
how to write the materials… It’s work and the work is not simple at all.
There were additional concerns mentioned by a small number of candidates.
First, several of them discussed the illusion created by Facebook: the number of
likes or positive atmosphere of his Facebook page do not reect the candidate’s
actual rate of support in the population. These interviewees describe Facebook as
“misleading,” “intoxicating,” might lead to risky overcondence if the engagement
is taken too seriously. H.S., a defeated candidate, perfectly described it: “I was in
rst place of all the contenders in the number of comments I received. According to
Facebook I should have been mayor, but the elections proved it wrong.
Another problem raised by a few contenders was their supporters’ actions perfor-
mance through their personal proles. As a result, the revealed preferences of sup-
porters become common knowledge; thus, concerns about personal exposure and
attracting rivals’ comments might deter supporters from expressing support. This
issue rose predominantly by new contenders, such as M.K.:
When you run against the incumbent mayor, who has been in ofce a long time, the popula-
tion is seriously afraid of expressing their opinion…. I know exactly how many people
viewed and read each post… [but] very few of these people liked my posts or commented
on them.
8.3.4 Contenders’ Perceptions ofFacebook’s Impact
onElection Results
Although many contenders in smaller towns did not believe that Facebook use inu-
enced election outcomes, the vast majority of these contenders operated and regu-
larly maintained a Facebook page. They offered two explanations to this
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
160
phenomenon. First, Facebook was an additional communicative channel which is
free, simple to operation and supports widespread dissemination of messages.
Second, “everyone uses it”; since Facebook use has been so ubiquitous, contenders
were afraid of the outcomes of lacked activity. They might have left behind their
opponents, be perceived as “old fashioned” and be inaccessible to potential voters.
They were also concerned of the possibility that someone might attack them on
Facebook and they would be unable to respond. A.G. described this reluctance:
I don’t think that it was very benecial, but I had no choice… All the other contenders had
a Facebook page, not being there would leave that front vulnerable… and it’s really easy to
make a Facebook page, so if I need it, why not do it?
When contenders were asked if they believed the election results to be different
without their Facebook campaigns, the majority of them replied that this campaign
made little difference. Contenders argued that Facebook is important for public
knowledge of candidates, as a mean of identifying supporters and general measure-
ment of public sentiment. Yet ground activities, especially on election day, eclipse
any achievements that Facebook enables. D.Y. summed it well:
The important things in any election are the ability to identify your supporters and motivate
them to vote. And with all due respect, Facebook might possibly help with the identica-
tion, but it can’t help with the mobilization. Mobilization happens one-on-one, not through
the Internet and social media; it should involve human touch.
Many contenders agreed that “you have to be on Facebook”. While many of them
clearly did not truly embrace Facebook use or invest serious efforts in their Facebook
campaign, they maintained a Facebook page out of a sense of obligation and aware-
ness that Facebook was too important arena to neglect.
8.3.5 Variables that Inuence theScope ofFacebook
Engagement andVote Shares
In the 2013 municipal elections, in comparison to the former elections of 2008, the
center of gravity of online activity shifted from websites to Facebook pages.
Contenders used Facebook pages compared to websites at a ratio of 4:1, with only
eight cases of candidates who had an ofcial website but no Facebook page. Many
candidates had a Facebook presence but no website. Next, let us examine the predic-
tors of engagement on contenders’ pages and predictors of candidates vote shares.
Predictors of engagement on candidate Facebook pages. For predicting engage-
ment, a linear regression analysis in blocks was performed (see Table8.1). In the
rst block, we included the institutional variables (whether the candidate was an
incumbent, whether he ran against an incumbent, the number of eligible voters in
the municipality, the number of candidates, and the difference in vote shares between
the winner and the runner-up). In the second block, we entered population-level
variables: social economic cluster and peripherality, education and age. The third
block included variables related to Facebook activity: numbers of fans and posts.
A. Lev-On
161
Table 8.1 Findings of the linear regression for predicting Facebook engagement
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
B Beta B Beta B Beta
(constant) 6307.79 15878.70 6823.12
Newcomer facing incumbent? 3337.41** 0.15 3411.52** 0.15 558.30 0.03
Newcomer- incumbent not running? 1947.30 0.07 2651.01 0.09 28.93 0.00
#residents 0.06** 0.63 0.07* 0.65 0.01** 0.10
#candidates 752.43* 0.11 583.78 0.09 289.69* 0.04
Gap #1- #2 26.91 0.04 15.21 0.02 28.21* 0.04
SE status 672.57 0.11 473.71* 0.08
Peripherality 69.44 0.01 193.68 0.03
Age 251.65* 0.10 204.52 0.08
Education 99.53 0.13 81.20** 0.10
Fans 1.03** 0.60
Posts 38.34** 0.32
R Square 0.43 0.44 0.90
R Square change 0.43** 0.01 0.44**
*p<0.05 ** p<0.01
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
162
Due to multicollinearity, the results of the third block were not further analyzed, but
are presented for illustrative purposes.
From the rst block of the regression, incumbency, competitiveness (measured
by number of candidates) and municipality size emerge as having an impact on
engagement scope. Facebook pages of incumbents show greater activity than
Facebook pages of non-incumbents (when the incumbent is running for reelection).
The number of eligible voters has a positive impact on Facebook engagement,
whereas number of candidates has a negative impact on Facebook engagement. The
variables in the rst block of the model explain 43% of the variance of Facebook
engagement. These ndings echo Facebook’s higher perceived importance among
contenders of larger cities, as well as new contenders (see 8.3.1). Moreover, incum-
bents tended to have greater public awareness and support than newer, unknown
contenders; they also had greater control of local media. Thus, it is not surprising
that their Facebook activity was greater, despite its lower perceived importance or
resources investment.
After introducing the second block of the regression, which includes the popula-
tion variables, incumbency and municipality size continue to have a signicant and
positive impact on engagement. Median population age has a negative impact on
Facebook page activity. Competitiveness, socio-economic cluster, peripherality and
education had no signicant effect on Facebook engagement. The contribution to
the explained variance over and above the contribution of the institutional-level
variables in the rst block of the regression was insignicant.
These ndings present Incumbency and size of the constituency as having a posi-
tive impact on engagement scope on contenders Facebook pages. Population-level
variables, however, had no impact on engagement level on contenders Facebook
pages, with the exception of age minor negative impact.
Predictors of candidate vote shares: To predict candidate’ vote shares, we per-
formed a linear-regression analysis in blocks (see Table8.2). In the rst block, we
entered Facebook variables: number of fans, number of posts, and cumulative
engagement. In the second block, we entered institutional-level variables, and in the
third block, we presented population-level variables.
Results of the rst block indicate that vote share is positively correlated with the
number of posts on a candidate’s Facebook page. Engagement and number of fans
had no signicant impact on vote share. Facebook variables account for only 8% of
the variance of candidate vote shares. This nding may explain why contenders who
had great scope of Facebook engagement during their campaign did not necessarily
won, as in H.S. case (see 8.3.3). This key nding might also strengthen contenders’
perception of Facebook as misleading, despite its obvious importance during a
municipal campaign.
Results of the second block indicate that incumbent candidates have a signicant
advantage over non-incumbents in terms of vote shares they received. We also found
that vote shares are negatively correlated with election competitiveness. The num-
ber of posts on a candidate’s page continued to have a weak impact on vote share.
Note that institutional-level variables add 45% to the explained variance of vote
shares. The population-level variables (block 3) had no signicant impact on the
A. Lev-On
163
vote shares received by candidates. Altogether, the independent variables explain
53% of the variance of candidate vote shares.
Consequently, institutional-level variables, incumbency, municipality size, and
competitiveness— the same variables that have an impact on Facebook activity
levels— also had an impact on candidate vote shares, although Facebook activity in
itself had a minor impact on candidates’ vote shares, mainly through the number of
posts and not in the other indices of Facebook activity, demonstrate that engagement
levels and number of fans had no impact on candidate vote shares.
These ndings align with contenders’ perceptions of Facebook as seen in 8.3.4.
Despite their time or resources investment in this medium and its perception as
necessary for current political campaigns, many of them felt that its actual inuence
on elections was limited.
8.3.6 Visual Practices inMunicipal Facebook Campaigns
In conclusion, let us denote some central themes that came up in the visual analysis
of candidates’ Facebook campaigning. First, as mentioned by many interviewees
(see 8.3.1) contenders tended to use printed materials in their Facebook pages in
order to distribute them in additional channel, instead of developing specic materi-
als, which will fully represent them in Facebook. This strategy derived from ef-
ciency and resources constraints of contenders, who wanted to increase their public
exposure by the use of existing resources: posters, yers, stickers and leaets.
Table 8.2 Findings of the linear regression for predicting candidates’ vote share
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
B Beta B Beta B Beta
(constant) 23.61 64.22 65.86
Engagement 0.00 0.07 0.00 0.16 0.00 0.16
Fans 0.00 0.03 0.00 0.09 0.00 0.10
Posts 0.05* 0.20 0.04* 0.16 0.04* 0.16
Newcomer facing incumbent? 25.43** 0.59 25.45** 0.59
Newcomer- incumbent not running? 19.43** 0.34 19.31** 0.34
#candidates 4.54** 0.36 4.46** 0.35
#residents 0.00* 0.12 0.00* 0.12
Gap #1- #2 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
SE status 0.55 0.05
Peripherality 0.01 0.00
Age 0.03 0.01
Education 0.03 0.02
R Square 0.08 0.53 0.53
R Square change 0.08** 0.45** 0.00
*p<0.05 ** p<0.01
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
164
Second, contenders tended to post a large number of pictures to their Facebook
pages, without any hierarchal distinction. Some of them attempted to represent a
‘factual reality’ of intensive social and municipal activity, as active leaders who
work hard in order to improve people’s lives. Indeed, loading three pictures a day
from three different events create a desirable image of an active contender, who
‘proves’ his/her intensive commitment to the city residents instead of using slogans.
Yet some contenders did so by presenting great number of pictures of same events
made a strategic mistake; a powerful picture is iconic due to its ability to represent
multiple feelings, events and arguments in one shot. The more pictures are taken
from an event, the less chances they have to become iconic (Zinger 2015).
In addition, Facebook’s photographic display intensies this unprofessional
impression: its albums are designed in a way that each reduced photo is displayed
in sequence with many others. As a result, there is intensive ooding of multiple
photos of one event, which makes the need of sorting and iconic photo even
stronger.
8.3.7 Representation ofCandidates andSupporters
Supporters. The Visual analysis revealed prominent presence not only of contend-
ers, but also their supporters, who often functioned as central gures of well-
planned, designated photos for Facebook usage. In addition to supporters who
accompanied the candidates or where photographed during events, there were oth-
ers who held identifying objects: poster, sticker, T-shirt with a contender’s slogan,
and so on. Their proximity creates a double ‘attachment’ between both residents to
their potential mayor, without the latter’s actual presence, and the poster, as a repre-
sentation of the contender.
Contender and electoral team: Many pictures included both the contender and
the members of their electoral lists. The contender was often portrayed as supreme
graphically, by presenting him as upper or bigger than the electoral team in adver-
tisement materials. However, other contenders are presented in line with their teams,
in an opposed strategy to the prevalent personalization trend.
In addition, the general trend among municipal contenders was to highlight their
public accessibility and create an image of ‘one of the people’. A prevalent strategy
was coming to their supporters in public places, rather than meeting them in one’s
ofce, dressed casually in similar to other residents. Thus, contenders make them-
selves be perceived as another resident who wants to make a social difference within
his community. Contenders were often photographed wearing various objects, such
as stickers or shirts, which make him/her another ‘supporter’ of their campaign,
decreasing the separation between themselves to their potential voters.
A. Lev-On
165
8.4 Discussion andConclusions
The current study examined Facebook use by candidates of local governments in
the 2013 Israeli municipal election campaigns. Semi-structured interviews were
conducted with 67 contenders, a quantitative analysis was conducted to nd the
impact of Facebook usage, as well as several institutional-level and population-level
variables on candidates’ vote shares. Finally, a visual semiotic analysis of more than
25,000 pictures posted on contenders Facebook pages was conducted.
The ndings indicate a very high rate of Facebook use in contenders’ election
campaigns. They use this platform due to low costs; the option of conveying mes-
sages in a direct, unmediated manner; and the broad reach of messages. That con-
tenders seriously considered Facebook as a legitimate media channel was reected
in the fact that many used special staff to operate their Facebook page, and in some
cases hired professionals. Their usage patterns were informative, top-down manner,
similar to traditional media use. In general, contenders used Facebook to create
public awareness of their credo, familiarize the public with them, and establish the
contender’s image as accessible and attentive to the public. However, contenders
rarely initiate the use of interactive Facebook tools in order to actively engage their
fans; apparently, they are concerned of losing control over the discussion on their
pages. Yet the vast majority of contenders objected to deleting posts, with the excep-
tion of extreme cases of posts containing hate speech.
Two main variables seem to effect the scope of Facebook engagement: size of
constituency and incumbency status. Thus, contenders of smaller towns, who can
easily meet with many potential voters personally, attributed to Facebook campaign
more limited impact compared to contenders in larger cities. In addition, new con-
tenders tended to attribute higher value to their Facebook activity compared to
incumbents, due to its potential to expose themselves and their messages to the
public. As a result, they attracted more engagement, despite their decreased ability
to present content of record and activities on ofce.
The ndings paint a complex picture: although most contenders do not believe
that Facebook can be a decisive factor in an election campaign, most of them
(81.6%) had Facebook pages, which were regularly updated by them, due to its
perception as an obligation in our current political sphere. The visual online activity
of candidates echo the above ndings, demonstrating unprofessional usage patterns
such as over-usage of photos and secondary use of made-for-print materials.
Interestingly, the recent trend of personalization appeared to decrease: contend-
ers tended to be photographed as ‘one of the people’, call their supporters to take an
active part in their campaign and increase their participation in the electoral process
online. Thus, current municipal Facebook campaigns have changed their personal-
ization focus from the contender to the voter. In fact, this change highlight the return
of ‘traditional’ campaigns, of which contenders visit potential voters’ home in order
to convince them to vote for them, in a modern medium.
The quantitative analysis demonstrates that incumbency and municipality size
had a signicant impact on the scope of Facebook activity and on vote shares. In
8 Perceptions, Uses, Visual Aspects, andConsequences ofSocial Media…
166
contrast, population-level variables had no impact on vote shares, with the excep-
tion of a small negative age effect. The only Facebook variable that had an impact
on vote share was related to activity initiated by the contenders themselves (number
of posts) rather than by voters: engagement and number of fans had no impact on
vote share. This might be due to the fact that mostly supporters follow the candidate
page; this assertion, however, requires further empirical support.
The ndings indicate that campaign-initiated Facebook activity makes a small
difference to election results. Recruiting fans and facilitating engagement, so often
discussed as the core of the political activity on Facebook, had no impact on candi-
date vote share. Nonetheless, when not all the candidates use Facebook, those who
do may gain a rst-mover advantage, and under such circumstances Facebook use
can denitely be a game changer. Even when political Facebook usage becomes the
rule rather than the exception, and such rst-mover advantages consequently van-
ishes, no candidate can afford to ignore this arena because then they will denitely
get left behind (Lev-On in press; Gibson and McAllister 2015).
Acknowledgements The authors thanks Naomi Bitman for her assistance with preparing the
manuscript.
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A. Lev-On
... In a study that complements the current research, interviews were conducted with 67 municipal election candidates in the municipal elections of 2013, exploring candidates' general media strategy and specifically Internet strategy, their presence in social networks, the aims of their Facebook activities, Facebook uses, opinions regarding the most effective political activity on social networks, and their impact [28]. The interviews indicate that Facebook is no longer considered an esoteric tool: Candidates treat it seriously and professionally by allocating budgets and even hiring professionals to manage their Facebook activities. ...
... In Canada, Wagner [50] used a nationwide survey of 307 candidates for various municipal offices between 2010 and 2012, and found a positive correlation between Internet presence and vote share. Sobaci et al. [28] found a positive correlation between presence on Twitter and vote share in the 2014 Turkish Local Elections. In a study of Facebook usage in the Greek 2014 municipal elections, Lappas et al. [25] found that while only 30% of the candidates had a Facebook page, Facebook usage as well as the number of fans correlated with candidate vote shares. ...
... H2. Activity on the Facebook pages of contenders will be greater in municipalities where the population is younger, more educated, and socio-economic status is higher, and in central vs. peripheral cities, as these variables are related to various aspects of the digital divide in Israel [27] and have also emerged in previous studies of Internet usage in campaigns in reference to website activities [17,27] as well as in reference to municipal Facebook usage in general [13,28,41,56,58]. ...
... Therefore, text messages may be an effective tool for candidates to raise awareness of their campaign, and for citizens, a simple, quick means of accessing information and raising issues on the agenda during the elections. Moreover, when political marketing budgets are relatively small, and candidates are sometimes forced to use their personal funds to finance their campaigns, text messages constitute an inexpensive, rapid, and reliable tool that reaches the mobile phones of almost all residents, and exposure to these messages is in most cases independent of socioeconomic profiles (see , 2018. ...
... In the relevant literature, studies on the use of social media by politicians have focused on how politicians use social media for political communication during the election periods and its impact on the election results (Hansen & Kosiara-Pedersen, 2014;Strandberg, 2013;Carlson & Stranberg, 2008;Ozdeşim İkiz, Sobaci, Yavuz, & Karkin, 2014;Welp et al., 2018;Lev-On, 2018). Furthermore, these studies have mainly focused on national politicians (Williams & Gulati, 2013;Hansen & Kosiara-Pedersen, 2014;Strandberg, 2013;Carlson & Stranberg, 2008). ...
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Today, politicians like other political actors use social media to interact with their audiences. In the relevant literature, studies on the use of social media by politicians focus more on how politicians use social media for political communication during the election periods and its impact on the election results. Furthermore, these studies mainly focus on national politicians. Few studies focus on the use of social media during a non-election period by the local politicians, and these studies analyse the purpose of using social media. Therefore, in the relevant literature, there is a need for empirical studies to measure the citizen engagement level of local politicians during the non-election period and analyse its determinants beyond the purpose of using social media. In this context, this study aims to analyse the relationship between some factors and the level of citizen engagement of the mayors on Twitter in Turkey. The findings of the analysis show that there is a relationship between the status of municipalities and the engagement level of mayors.
... Most U.S. studies about the impact of social media usage on elections focus on presidential elections (Chung & Mustafaraj, 2011;Grover et al., 2019;Williams & Gulati, 2008;Winsvold, 2007). The emerging literature on social media usage in municipal elections shows that candidates' social media activity and online followers have strong and significant impacts on election results (e.g., Hagar, 2015;Lappas et al., 2016;Lev-On, 2018;Lin, 2017;Raynauld & Greenberg, 2014;Zhang, 2018). ...
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Local elected officials play a leadership role in setting plan directions and can jeopardize implementation if they are not committed to plan goals. In this research, we apply topic modeling, semantic networks, and sentiment analyses to Calgary’s (Canada) plans and candidates’ social media communications in the 2017 Calgary municipal election to assess alignments or divergences between plans’ and candidates’ priorities. Though the mayor, ward representatives, incumbents, and challengers prioritized different topics, we find overall support for transit infrastructure, development, and improving the downtown and the municipal tax base. However, candidates showed little interest in environmental issues, growth management, and regional cooperation, which are important plan goals that may not be addressed. The methodology has limitations: Using social media posts underrepresents the views of some candidates; text data processing may miss metaphorical phrases; elected officials’ priorities during campaigns may not determine their actual votes once in office; and this cross-sectional analysis does not capture the ever-changing relations between officials’ priorities, plan-making, and implementation. Takeaway for practice Candidates focused mainly on transit and taxes to the detriment of regional and environmental issues (energy, watershed, and growth management), revealing the incoming municipal administration’s priorities and its potential blind spots. Planners may use this methodology to analyze large text data from both online and offline sources, understand local implementation barriers, explain shifts in municipal policy directions, and engage elected officials to build support for important plan components.
... Similarly, findings from Israel -the arena in which data for the current study was collected, demonstrate that politicians tend to use their social media channels in a similar top-down manner, at times expressing outright concerns of too much engagement with the public and expressing a sense of emergency pertaining to control (or more so remaining in control) of their own pages and promoting their own agendas. Such concerns came up in studies carried out in national-level political campaigns in Israel (Haleva-Amir, 2010) as well as in the municipal level political campaigns in Israel ( Lev-On, 2018). The prior lead to the third research question: ...
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The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Facebook by candidates running for the 2014 Greek Municipal Elections by addressing the following questions: (1) which factors affect Facebook adoption by municipal candidates?, and (2) whether Facebook usage along with the popularity of candidates’ Facebook pages influence candidates’ vote share. Results indicate that Facebook is not a very popular campaigning tool among municipal candidates in Greece. This implies that Greek candidates still rely on traditional ways to lure their voters. Furthermore, findings reveal that candidates running in large municipalities who hadn’t been elected before are more likely to utilize Facebook as a means of political marketing. Despite the low adoption rate, results suggested that candidates who made use of Facebook won more votes compared to non-Facebook candidates. Moreover, it was found that a candidate’s Facebook page popularity is a good indicator of the candidate’s vote share.
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