Reaching Inward Not Outward: Marketing via the Internet at the UK 2010 General Election

The Internet has been to date used as a space for simple promotion by political parties; websites present an opportunity for the delivery of non-mediated communication directly to the online audience and nothing more. However, new patterns in usage during campaigns, particularly that of Barack Obama, aided by the technological innovations that fall under the umbrella of Web 2.0, offer new models of online political communication. Through an analysis of the websites and linked online presences of six parties that stood across the UK at the 2010 General Election, we find a dual strategy for Internet campaigning emerging. The persuasive traditions of electioneering remain a feature; however, the key emergent function is one of internal marketing to party supporters and activists. Large sections of party websites are being dedicated to harnessing supporters and converting them to being donators, promoters, and campaigners both online and offline. This suggests that the Internet is increasingly embedded within election communication and online communication strategies are becoming a feature of most of the parties' marketing communication mix. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

What drives political participation? Motivations and Mobilization in a Digital Age

The article provides insights into the driving forces that underpin new forms of political participation. Digital technologies offer opportunities for engaging in a wide range of civically-oriented activities, whether liking or sharing political content, joining online political communities or joining discussions, each can contribute to deeper democratic engagement and, for the individual, act as a pathway towards further civic participation. Conventional acts of political participation, demonstrating, petitioning and voting, are argued to be driven primarily by intrinsic motivations relating to self-efficacy and empowerment as the individual feels they can have influence over decision makers. Little research explores whether similar motivations drive participation in less conventional acts, as well as whether mobilisation attempts via social media by peers or political organisations mediate those motivations. Drawing on data from a survey among a representative sample of the UK electorate, we find the offline and online spheres of agency as still fairly distinct. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations both matter but extrinsic motivations, following norms of behaviour within networks and supporting the activities of peers, have the strongest explanatory power independent of the sphere of activity. The mediating effect of mobilisation tactics has a minimal effect on extrinsic motivations, online or offline, but online intrinsic motivations lose their explanatory power. This finding suggests online political acts are carried out due to mobilisation, although as intrinsic factors offer little explanatory power these acts may lack meaning to the individual. We also found that campaign organisations are the most powerful mobilisers perhaps suggesting social media users are most likely to perform simple acts in support of non-contentious causes

Prototype Politics: Technology-Intensive Campaigning and the Data of Democracy by Daniel Kriess, Oxford University Press: Book Review

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Book Reviews

Ruxandra Boicu, Silvia Branea and Adriana Ștefănel (eds) POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN TIMES OF CRISIS: PERSPECTIVES FROM CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE Toril Aalberg, Frank Esser, Carsten Reinemann, Jesper Strömbäck and Claes H. de Vreese (eds) POPULIST POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN EUROPE Kristin Skare Orgeret and William Tayeebwa (eds) JOURNALISM IN CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT CONDITIONS: WORLDWIDE PERSPECTIVES Jan Fredrik Hovden, Gunnar Nygren and Henrika Zilliacus-Tikkanen (eds) BECOMING A JOURNALIST. JOURNALISM EDUCATION IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES Viktorija Car, Miroljub Radojković and Manuela Zlateva (eds) REQUIREMENTS FOR MODERN JOURNALISM EDUCATION – THE PERSPECTIVE OF STUDENTS IN SOUTH EAST EUROPE Edgar Gómez Cruz and Asko Lehmuskallio (eds) DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND EVERYDAY LIFE: EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON MATERIAL VISUAL PRACTICE

Book Reviews

Ruxandra Boicu, Silvia Branea and Adriana Ștefănel (eds) POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN TIMES OF CRISIS: PERSPECTIVES FROM CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE Toril Aalberg, Frank Esser, Carsten Reinemann, Jesper Strömbäck and Claes H. de Vreese (eds) POPULIST POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN EUROPE Kristin Skare Orgeret and William Tayeebwa (eds) JOURNALISM IN CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT CONDITIONS: WORLDWIDE PERSPECTIVES Jan Fredrik Hovden, Gunnar Nygren and Henrika Zilliacus-Tikkanen (eds) BECOMING A JOURNALIST. JOURNALISM EDUCATION IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES Viktorija Car, Miroljub Radojković and Manuela Zlateva (eds) REQUIREMENTS FOR MODERN JOURNALISM EDUCATION – THE PERSPECTIVE OF STUDENTS IN SOUTH EAST EUROPE Edgar Gómez Cruz and Asko Lehmuskallio (eds) DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND EVERYDAY LIFE: EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON MATERIAL VISUAL PRACTICE

Towards hypermedia campaigning? Perceptions of new media's importance for campaigning by party strategists in comparative perspective

This paper analyses strategic thinking around election campaign communication in a rapidly evolving media environment, characterized by the rise of digital communication channels and online social networks as new tools of political campaigning. Using an expert survey with campaign managers of 68 political parties within 12 European nations, representing both old and new EU member states, the study investigates the perceived importance of different types of communication platforms in meeting campaign objectives, especially with regard to differences between new and direct modes of campaigning in comparison to traditional campaign channels. The attributed significance to these various channels is then analysed against a range of variables on macro (country) level as well as meso (party) level. The results suggest that while some differences can be observed in regard to the perceptions of particular types of social media between individual strategists working for parties as well as between strategists working in new and old EU member states (e.g. Facebook is seen as more important in younger democracies), overall we can see a relatively high level of homogeneity in the perceived importance of campaign communication in the sample. The data point to the embedding of new communication platforms within election campaign strategies across most nations and parties; this indicates that the move towards ‘hypermedia' campaign style, integrating both old and new campaign tools and communication platforms, is now becoming a standard feature of professional campaigning strategy in Europe

Social media campaigning in Europe: Mapping the terrain

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The normalization of online campaigning in the web.2.0 era

This article is based on a comparative study of online campaigning and its effects by country and over time, using four of the largest European Union member states (France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom) as a case study. Our research explores the extent of embeddedness of online campaigning, the strategic uses of the whole online environment and in particular the use of the interactive features associated with web.2.0 era. However, our research goes beyond studies of online campaigning as we also determine whether online campaigning across platforms matters in electoral terms. Our data support the normalization hypothesis which shows overall low levels of innovation but that the parties with the highest resources tend to develop online campaigns with the highest functionality. We find that there is a vote dividend for those parties which utilized web.2.0 features the most and so offered visitors to their web presence a more interactive experience