Success of political communication on social networking sites

Table of Contents

Introduction

Literature Review

Politics-audience relations and the role of the Internet

SNS and political participation: Benefits

SNS and political participation: Drawbacks

Politicians strategies on SNS

Success of political communication on SNS

Activity & Evaluation

Media & Political performance

What makes a party’s page on SNS a successful one? (RQ 1)

Party preference and identification, activity on SNS & political engagement.

Design & authenticity.

To what extent are the parties’ pages able to attract users in general and non-partisans in particular? (RQ 1.1)

To what extent do national characteristics in party system and SNS usage influence the success of political communication on SNS? (RQ 2)

Conceptual Model

Methods

Sample

Measures - Content-Analysis

Measures – Survey

Party preference, party identification & country.

Political engagement.

Activity on sns & on the page.

Perceived quality of the pages.

Evaluation.

Media & political performance.

Results

Content Analysis

Survey

Preparing data.

Characteristics of the users.

Multiple regression analyses – aggregated data.

Activity on the page.

Evaluation of the page.

Media & political performance.

Multiple regression analyses - country by country.

Discussion & Conclusion

Impressions from content-analysis

Partisans populating the pages

Dominating design and authenticity

Country less important

Implications

Limitations

Recommendations for future research

Objectives & Key Themes

This master's thesis investigates the drivers of success for political social-democratic parties' Facebook pages in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. It aims to determine how political actors can effectively use social networking sites to bypass traditional media gatekeepers, engage citizens, and attract new voters by analyzing both page-level interactivity and user-level characteristics.

• The impact of party preference and partisan habits on SNS interaction.
• The role of interactivity, design, and authenticity as determinants of perceived page quality.
• Cross-national differences in SNS penetration and their influence on communication performance.
• The tension between politicians' expectations for online outreach and the reality of SNS as a partisan-dominated echo chamber.
• Strategies for future SNS usage, including internal party communication versus external campaigning.

Excerpt from the Book

Summary of Chapters

Introduction: Provides the research scope, outlining the shift from traditional media to SNS for bypassing gatekeepers and the specific cross-national focus on social-democratic parties.

Literature Review: Examines the theoretical foundation of politics-audience relations, the perceived benefits and drawbacks of SNS participation, and indicators of success such as media performance and credibility.

Conceptual Model: Illustrates the theoretical relationships between independent variables like activity and quality, and dependent variables like page evaluation and performance.

Methods: Details the mixed-methods research design, combining explorative content analysis with a cross-national web-based survey to ensure reliability and validity.

Results: Presents empirical data on user behavior, page engagement rates, and regression analyses testing the influence of party preference, authenticity, and design.

Discussion & Conclusion: Synthesizes findings, confirming that partisan habits dominate SNS pages, limiting the ability to reach non-partisans, and proposes strategies for internal communication or improved outreach.

Keywords

Political communication, Social Networking Sites, Facebook, social-democratic parties, partisanship, selective exposure, digital campaign strategy, interactivity, authenticity, political engagement, cross-national comparison, media performance, online participation, gatekeeping, web 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core focus of this research?

The thesis focuses on determining the factors that drive the success of social-democratic parties' Facebook pages in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, specifically regarding their ability to attract new voters and bypass traditional media gatekeepers.

What are the primary themes discussed?

The study covers the impact of partisan habits on digital discourse, the effectiveness of political marketing strategies on SNS, and the influence of national differences in party systems and social media usage.

What is the main research question?

The primary research question asks what determines the success of a party's page on SNS, specifically: what must administrators do to achieve high ratings in media and political performance, user engagement, and positive evaluation?

Which research methods were employed?

The author utilized a mixed-methods approach, combining an explorative content analysis of Facebook posts with a web-based survey of 448 users across the three countries.

What does the main body of the work cover?

The body covers a literature review on online politics, the definition of success in political communication, a detailed operationalization of variables, the presentation of results from multiple regression analyses, and a final critical discussion on future strategies.

Which keywords best characterize this work?

Key terms include political communication, Social Networking Sites (SNS), digital campaign strategy, partisan bias, online political engagement, and media performance.

Did the study confirm that Facebook pages successfully attract new, non-partisan voters?

No, the findings reveal that the pages are overwhelmingly populated by existing party followers, indicating that the goal of using these platforms to attract significant numbers of new, non-partisan voters was not achieved.

How does the author characterize the 'best case' among the parties studied?

The UK Labour Party is identified as the 'best case' in terms of reach and ability to interact with the electorate, although its high success is contrasted by a low growth rate, suggesting market saturation.

What are the implications for party strategists suggested in the conclusion?

The author suggests that parties should either pivot their SNS pages toward internal party organization and deliberation, as the audience is already highly partisan, or drastically improve their content strategy to be more authentic and less reliant on posting repetitive links.