The political communication on social networks during the 2015 electoral campaign in Spain: usage, effectivity and reach

Abstract

Social networks are taking an important role on every communication area and political communication is no stranger to this new form of communication. Up to this day no politician is left out in this new world of Social Networks. This article is focused on the study of political communication that candidates with possibilities for parliamentary representation carried out during the electoral campaign to General Courts on December 20th of 2015 in Spain. It is about researching how they communicate through this media, studying their effectiveness based on the achievement of the axioms that define the 3.0 political communication and the reach such communication has with citizens, both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. On the quantitative perspective, three areas will be analyzed. The first one, the distance between messages and the worries of citizens. Second one, four categories of such messages: information, interaction, attitude and aesthetics. Last area is the analysis of the egocentric social network, identifying with whom the candidates communicate. On the qualitative perspective the communicative model will be analyzed, and also the function the messages carry with them. These functions considered will be: persuasive, emotive, mobilization, recruitment, deliberative and participative. This paper concludes that quality traffic based on interactivity and messages of interest increase participation rates.