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Agenda setting in social media election campaigns

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Lehrner

    (Andrassy Universitat)

Abstract

In modern democracies, elections play a very special role, as they are a guarantee of democratic participation by the electorate. For political parties, elections are the time to get in touch with their voters. With the proliferation of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, Web 2.0 has become a reality and is increasingly used by parties. Using the example of the 2019 National Council election in Austria, this paper examines how parties use social media and which issues they specifically address in the election campaign on Facebook and Twitter. The following hypotheses are examined in this work: (1) Economic parties tend to focus on popular topics such as environmental protection, society or politicians in general news coverage on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter - compared to nationalist parties.(2) Environmental parties also focus on issues such as environmental protection on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter.(3) Negative campaigning plays a bigger role on Twitter than on Facebook.(4) The top candidates Sebastian Kurz and Pamela Rendi-Wagner also focus on the core topics of the parties (OVP = economy, SPO = welfare state) on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Lehrner, 2022. "Agenda setting in social media election campaigns," Eximia Journal, Plus Communication Consulting SRL, vol. 5(1), pages 158-169, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tec:eximia:v:5:y:2022:i:1:p:158-169
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barberá, Pablo & Casas, Andreu & Nagler, Jonathan & Egan, Patrick J. & Bonneau, Richard & Jost, John T. & Tucker, Joshua A., 2019. "Who Leads? Who Follows? Measuring Issue Attention and Agenda Setting by Legislators and the Mass Public Using Social Media Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 883-901, November.
    2. Thomas Fujiwara & Karsten Müller & Carlo Schwarz, 2024. "The Effect of Social Media on Elections: Evidence from The United States," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 1495-1539.
    3. repec:cup:apsrev:v:113:y:2019:i:04:p:883-901_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Stephan Lewandowsky & Michael Jetter & Ullrich K. H. Ecker, 2020. "Using the president’s tweets to understand political diversion in the age of social media," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Thomas Fujiwara & Karsten Müller & Carlo Schwarz, 2021. "The Effect of Social Media on Elections: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 28849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agenda Settings; Social Media; Facebook; Twitter; Campaigning; Austria; Osterreich; Party; Political Parties;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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