Members of the European Parliament Online: The use of Social Media in Political Marketing

Abstract

The appearance of political marketing and campaigning on social media is a relatively new phenomenon, which was first introduced in the US before spreading to Europe. The importance of online political marketing can be seen in, among other factors, the major advantages offered by the Internet. Despite the fact that not everyone uses the Internet in Europe, the percentage of those who do is considered to be high enough for its application in politics. The goal of this paper is to examine the connection between European politics, Members of the European Parliament and the use of social media, and to give suggestions on how the use of social media in political marketing could be further advanced. The final recommendations target the greater use of social media for the creation of stronger bonds between politicians and citizens in Europe, which could improve electoral participation and consequently contribute to overcoming citizens’ apathy and the lack of democracy at the EU level. Social media sites could be used to mobilize a larger number of EU citizens to vote in the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Footnotes

Lucia Vesnic-Alujevic obtained her PhD in Communication Science from Ghent University, after which she became a Visiting Fellow at the CES. Since November 2012, she has been postdoctoral researcher at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. Her research interests include political communication, online communication, EU politics, Western Balkans and political participation.