Bartłomiej Machnik, New Media in the Process of Political Communication

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 4 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 4

Bartłomiej Machnik (Opole University) NEW MEDIA IN THE PROCESS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION; NEW CHANNELS OF DIALOGUE WITH THE SOCIETY The article was written for the 60th anniversary of Radio Opole.

Key words: Internet, New media, social media, Web 2.0, political communication, Facebook, Twitter Abstract: The rapid development of the Internet caused, that new media have become the main channel of communication I the last few years. Today, social networking sites, video-blogs, or websites are the main channels of communication. They also act as a person's self-presentation.

New media are beginning to play an important role in politics as well. Every major politician now has a profile on Facebook and Twitter. Politicians consider social media as the fastest and most effective way to reach voters and experts. All these facts entitle researchers to formulate questions for the future and to continue using of this type of communication with voters. Is the new media will replace traditional meeting with voters? What national politicians think about this issue? These are some of the many questions relevant to the future of political marketing.

Introduction Over the past few years, fast development of the Internet has made new media into one of the main channels of interpersonal communication. Today, the Internet is also becoming one of the basic means of communication and organisation in all spheres of human activity. Therefore, it is obvious that social and political movements will make use of it. It is also certain that politicians will take advantage of it, transforming the Internet space (and particularly new media), into an important tool that they will use to raise support.

Today social media, video blogs and websites are the main channels of communication.

They also function as the means of self-presentation. New media begin to play an important role in politics. In fact, every politician who matters has a profile on Facebook and Twitter.

It is increasingly often that politicians think of social media as the fastest and most effective way of reaching voters and experts. All these facts have spurred an interest of researchers, who ask questions about the future and further development of this type of communication with potential voters.

This paper aims at sketching the transformations, which have taken place within political communication processes, by pointing at the advantages of new media and reasons for their popularity. Our knowledge of this area will allow us to understand why politicians choose this type of communication with voters.

I have also included the results of a questionnaire, which has been prepared for the purposes of this paper. The questionnaire was e-mailed to some of the members of the Polish Parliament in January – March 2013. It aimed at finding out about the means of communication that politicians most frequently choose to relate to voters.

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Political communication – characteristics In a broad sense communication is the basis of establishing and maintaining interpersonal relations. It is hard, however, to find one, universal definition of this process, precisely because of its interdisciplinary character1, which is the reason why research on communication has been and is carried out within various spheres, including politics. This is fully justified as political activities and decisions they involve would make no sense were they not preceded by communication process. An element without which politics could not function is an exchange of information between a sender (politician or political party) and a recipient (the public). These are the reasons why the process of political communication is attracting more attention.

Political communication is a process of interaction between various political entities, connected by the relations of power, struggle and cooperation. Communication should be understood, in this context, as the space in which various groups that express their views on political issues, meet. One of the first definitions of political communication was formed by H. Eulau, S. Eldersveld and M. Janowitz. These authors’ research focused on three concerns2: 

Political leadership and group structure



Intervention of media in the area of social mobilization and the transfer of political influence between formally governing institutions and citizens



Political communication which researchers have reduced to a process of mediation in relations between government institutions and voters.

A few approaches have crystallised in the research on political communication process. In their analyses researchers have focused on various aspects of political communication. The table below presents a breakdown of these approaches: Table 1: Research approaches in political communication studies.

Name Behavioural approach

Structural-functional approach

Interactive approach

Dialogue approach

Characteristics Focus on the effect of communication i.e. changes it causes in the voters’ attitudes and behaviour.

Researchers 

H. Lasswell



C. Shannon



W. Weaver

The main element here is an interactive process that takes place between the elements of political system and its environment.



K.W. Deutsch



G.A. Almond



J. Coleman

This approach assumes an interpretation of political communication as a strategic activity, in which actors are confronted with their opponents.



E. Goffman



M. Edelman



E.G. Borman

The approach is based on the idea of a consensus worked out in the public debate.



J. Habermas

1

Mass communication was investigated with the use of methods and conceptual frameworks of such areas as psychology, political science, sociology, history, semiotics, cybernetics and economy.

2 B. Dobek-Ostrowska, Komunikowanie polityczne i publiczne [Political and Public Communication] Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2006, p. 134.

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Market approach

Political actors are the product which should be produced (created) at the lowest possible cost and sold (gained support). A seller in this case is a politician or political party and a buyer is a voter.



R. Denton



G. Woodward



B. McNair

Source: B. Dobek-Ostrowska, Komunikowanie polityczne i publiczne [Public and Political Communication], Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2006, pp. 135-142.

These various approaches are clearly differentiated by the times in which they have been produced. The first researchers understood political communication as one-way process of transmitting political messages from the people in power to their electorate. Later, with the development of various communication techniques, the process has been gradually perceived as a two-way game involving political elites, media, the public and also communication supporting techniques, such as political marketing, advertising, public opinion polls, etc.

Today political communication is understood as a conversation between a politician and the public with the aid of communication means available. These play the role of a mediator between the sender and the recipient of a political message3. In this type of communication, it is personal contact between political actors and the public opinion that matters most. The size of the target group that politicians address is also changing systematically. Currently, political communication aims at maximum personalization of a dialogue between a politician and his voters. Messages constructed to address larger numbers of recipients are gradually abandoned. One of the reasons for this shift in political communication strategy is a continuous development of the Internet space and its impact on the society. Internet and the changes it has undergone over the years have had a considerable impact on politicians and their political styles.

Web 2.0 and new media Proper understanding of the idea of Web 2.0 is a starting point for our further analysis. Web 2.0 is, above all, a user-focused design and building of Internet solutions. Web 2.0 is abandoning the model of the Internet use without user’s own interference. The main idea is the creation of solutions which allow users to have an influence on the shape the Internet space.

Eight principal features can be distinguished as characteristic of Web 2.04: 

Ability to initiate contacts



Breaking of the existing rules



Participation (including the sharing and exchange of information)



Creativity



Low costs



Possibility of choosing content



Speed



Transience

3

P. Szumlewicz, Egalitarna polityka w dobie Internetu [Egalitarian Politics in the Times of the Internet] [in:] Re:polityka. Internet, a reforma instytucji demokratycznych: nadzieje, wyzwania, porażki [Re: Politics.

Internet and the Reform of Democratic Institutions: Hopes, Challenges, Defeats], (ed.): Ł. Jonak, P. Mazurek, M. Olcoń, A. Przybylska, A. Tarkowski, J.M. Zając, Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Akademickiej i Profesjonalne 2006, p. 242.

4 P. Zalewski, Osiem cech Web 2.0 [Eight Features of Web 2.0], http://www.internetstandard.pl/news/107199/Osiem.cech.Web.20.html, [22.04.2013].

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These features demonstrate a variety of usage offered by the Internet space. In fact, the limitless opportunities allow Internet users to create the space they like and manage it. In this respect, Web 2.0 is completed by the so-called “new media”.

The word “new” in the case of new media is clearly marking the boundary between the traditional mass media (television, radio, the press) and their younger siblings (Internet, networking sites, microblogs, video blogs). New media can be differentiated from old media by three main features5: 

Enormous bandwidth and capacity of the media,



Use of one transmission channel and one digital code,



Addressability of point-to-point messaging.

One of the main characteristics of new media is interactivity, which is the ability to initiate contacts and exchange content with other users. Traditional mass media (television, radio, the press) did not offer such opportunities. Research on new media has taken two directions: the first, focused on social advantages of new media, and the second concentrated on their technical aspects.

Denis McQuail, researcher of mass communication, is a representative of the first trend. In his work, McQuail particularly engaged with the process of creating and exchanging content. He thought the following to be the key features of new media6: 

Interactivity indicated as the ratio of response on the part of the user to the ‘offer’ of the sender



Social presence: the sense of personal contact with others



Media richness: reduced ambiguity, provision of more cues, involvement of more senses and being more personal



Autonomy: the degree to which a user feels in control of content and use independent of the source



Playfulness: source of entertainment, against utility and instrumentality



Privacy



Personalisation: the degree to which content and uses are personalized and unique.

Lev Manovich, representative of the second trend, focused his attention on the technical aspects, by reducing the features of new media to five basic elements7:



Numerical representation – a new media object must be represented as a numeric/mathematical expression. It must be modifiable by an algorithm.



Modularity – a new media object consists of independent parts, all the way down to the level of indivisible “atoms”.



Automation – new media enable the automation of many processes related to their creation, processing and publishing.



Variability – a new media object is not a fixed element but it exists in many varieties, the number of which is theoretically unlimited.



Transcoding – allows for the transformation of the media into computer data and changes of format.

5

T. Goban-Klas, Wartki nurt mediów. Ku nowym formom społecznego życia informacji [The Fast Current of Media. Towards New Forms of Social Life of Information], Kraków, Towarzystwo Autorów i Wydawców Prac Naukowych UNIVERSITAS 2011, p. 47.

6 D. McQuail, Teoria komunikowania masowego [Mass Communication Theory], Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2007, p. 156.

7 L. Manovich, Język nowych mediów [The Language of New Media], Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Akademickie i Profesjonalne, 2006, p. 92.

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As we can clearly see, all these concepts are not mutually exclusive at all, but quite complementary, showing the enormous opportunities and ranges of new media. In order to rationalize the types of new media one can use the classification presented in the Social Media in Business8 report, published by the “Internet Standard” portal. Its authors have carried out the following division of the most important social media: Diagram 1. Types of social media.

Source: own study

The unlimited opportunities offered by social media are reflected in figures. Our analysis of various research indicates a continued growth of social media users in Poland. According to the research carried out by Gemius S.A. (in February 2013), the largest number of users was attributed to the Google Group (17.0m users), followed by Facebook (13.9m) and Youtube.com (13.4m)9. For the purposes of this paper, it is also worth noting that in Poland the Twitter.com microblog associates as many as 1.4m users.

New media in politics All information we have gathered in this paper so far illustrates a prominent role played and opportunities offered by new media, which are also instrumental in creating the virtual world, in many cases is equivalent to reality. Politicians and political parties could not remain indifferent to these changes. A dialogue with society is fundamental to political activity which targets voters for their support of a specific politician.

In this way, new media and, social networking media in particular, have become a natural playground for politicians. Communication via new media offers an opportunity of targeting a specific social group. It also produces the possibilities of enhancing an impact on traditional mass media which frequently treat new media as one of the first sources of information (e.g. Twitter).

8

K. Budek, Social media w biznesie [Social Media in Business], Warsaw, International Data Group Poland SA, 2013, p. 13.

9 Polskie Badania Internetu [Polish Research of the Internet], http://www.pbi.org.pl/pl/aktualnosci/177/wyniki-megapanel-pbi-gemius-za-luty-2013, [01.05.2013].

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Finally, new media ideally suit the purposes of communication with voters. Sara Bentivegna indicates six features which contribute to the attractiveness of such communication10:  Interactivity vs. one-way flow  Co-existence of vertical and horizontal communication  Departure from mediation, which means a lesser role of journalism in mediating the relationship between citizens and politicians  Low cost to senders and recipients  Greater speed than in the case of traditional media  Lack of boundaries It is noticeable that the features which make the Internet space an attractive medium of political communication coincide with the characteristics of new media. This certainly confirms that the correct use of these channels may bring the expected benefits, such as, for example, voters’ support.

Also Steven McNutt and John Hick indicted four incentives which should encourage political organisations to get involved in the Internet space for building their own self-image11: 1. Economic incentive – reduction of costs relating to the coordination of political activities.

The Internet is by far cheaper and more effective.

2. An incentive relating to distance and possibilities of decentralization – the power of selfdetermination can be transferred to the lower stages, which means that owing to this reduced distance voters can get organised in matters which are important to them, exchange experiences and ideas.

3. New opportunities not only as far as organisation of specific social activities is concerned but also education opportunities and obtaining necessary information.

4. Moreover cyberspace is potential voters, so it is the space worth managing.

It is also worth mentioning that the growing popularity of new media in political communication has changed the principles of dialogue with voters. Social media have made voters directly available to politicians, which means that the political message can be adjusted specifically to the recipients.

A politician can easily satisfy voters’ curiosity and make people feel that they are not ignored.

Facebook and Twitter – two platforms for different purposes Our research and analysed content demonstrate that out of all the new media available in Poland, politicians are most happily using two: Facebook as a social networking platform and the Twitter microblog. Using Facebook does not come as a surprise, as it is the leading new media site used by the public. More importantly, most Facebook users are young and young people need most attention. Twitter, on the other hand, is used for contact with media, though in this case the traditional media come to aid, (as Twitter is relatively less popular in Poland than elsewhere).

Below, I shall present the analysis of these sites in the aspect of political communication. For the purposes of this paper, members of Polish Parliament have been sent a questionnaire with a request to indicate what they thought were strong points of these platforms. The results of research in relation to each platform will be also included.

Facebook social networking platform was launched in 2004 at Harvard University by the student, Marc Zuckerberg. With its simple interface and far-reaching range it quickly won the hearts of the American public and dethroned the popular MySpace. It turned up in Poland two years later.

The strength of the service is its capacity to adjust its options to the recipients’ needs. Below are the results of the research published in the Internet Standard report entitled “The Social Media 2010”, 10

B. Brodzińska-Mirowska, Internet w komunikowaniu politycznym [Internet in Political Communication] [in:] Nowe media we współczesnym społeczeństwie [New Media in Contemporary Society] ed. M. Jeziński, Toruń, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2011, pp. 207-208.

11 Ibid., p. 208.

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designed to answer the question: what are the main purposes for which Internet Users use the social media?

Diagram 2. What are the main purposes for which you use the social networking media?

Source: The “Social Media 2010” report, published by the Internet Standard site, http://www.internetstandard.pl/news/365447/Internet.Standard.prezentuje.raport.Social.Media.2010.html, [01.05.2012].

For active politicians (both well-known and those at the start of their careers) the platform is also an ideal place for creating self-presentation. This is where they can post, comment on the posts published by “friends’’ and create groups focused on specific matters, create events with participating politicians etc. Publishing pictures is also a very important option, most frequently used by politicians for the presentation of places where they organise their meetings. This is also used for self-presentation and demonstrating the politician’s “human face”. Facebook is also ideal for mobilising various groups or for sharing interesting ideas or information required about a specific institution, place, etc.

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Illustration 1. Sample Facebook profile of a politician

Source: Facebook Profile of Grzegorz Matusiak, Member of the Polish Parliament https://www.facebook.com/grzegorz.matusiak.31?fref=ts [04.05.2013].

Here are the answers given by the Members of the Polish Parliament to the question why Facebook is a good channel of the political communication process12:  It is popular  it has the greatest reach  It is transparent and produces limitless content  It gives an opportunity to publish photos + description of events  It allows for interaction with voters  It helps to reach the entire constituency  It gives the opportunity to reach out to a selected group of people As demonstrated by the answers given by Polish politicians, Facebook is - more than anything - the place of interaction with voters. Taking advantage of its popularity and reach, politicians try to build their self-presentation and as far as it is possible adjust it to the specific group of people whose postulates they stand for.

Twitter, on the other hand, is a microblog which allows for posts of maximum 140 characters. Twitter’s role is well described by the following quote: “Would you like the whole world to know what film you are just watching or planning to watch? What you really think about your teacher, boss or president or what you have just had for breakfast? (…). Would you like others to know about those and other matters, which have just turned up in your mind, virtually seconds after they happened (…). If so, Twitter is ideal for you”13.

As Eryk Mistewicz said “Twitter is a synthesis of the world. People who no longer have time to wade through the thicket of texts, video recordings, radio programmes, Internet news and

12

Based on the questionnaire sent to the deputies to the Polish Parliament in January - March 2013 (the full text of the questionnaire is enclosed as an appendix).

13 P. Levinson, Nowe nowe media [New New Media], Kraków, Wydawnictwo WAM, 2010, p. 207.

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Politicians also indicate the advantages of Twitter. Paweł Graś, current spokesman of the Polish Government says: “I appreciate this tool. I appreciate its speed and the fact that one entry can reach thousands of people; also for the fact that everyone, the great of this world and common people (…) are equal and have the same opportunity to have an impact on others”15. Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs adds: “Twitter is a tool useful in the effective reaching of goals (…) this is the service in which the precision of each word one uses is ultimately rewarded”16.

These comments demonstrate the distinction between Twitter and Facebook. Twitter is for expressing opinions, and it is used by politicians for passing quick information, presentation of standpoints etc.

Polish parliamentarians share this point of view. Members of the Polish Parliament have given the following answers to the question why they think Facebook to be a good communication channel17:  It is modern  It is trendy  It is a good place for expressing one’s opinions  It is fast  It is for narrow audience The last item seems to be of key importance to use Twitter. As it has been already mentioned, in Poland Twitter is used by fewer than 2m people, which is a relatively small number of users, who create a kind of enclave as presented in the following diagram: Diagram 3. How often do you use Twitter?

Source: Internet site: media2.pl, http://media2.pl/internet/97680-Jak-czesto-odwiedzamy-portalespolecznosciowe-infografika.html, [03.05.2013].

14

E. Mistewicz, Dziesięć mitów Twittera [The Ten Myths About Twitter] [in:] Nowe media [New Media], ed. E. Mistewicz, Gdynia, Wydawnictwo Operon, 2012, No. 2, p. 44.

15 P. Graś, Sto czterdzieści ważnych znaków [Hundred and Forty Important Characters] [in:] Nowe media [New Media], ed. E. Mistewicz, Gdynia, Wydawnictwo Operon, 2013, No. 3, p. 65.

16 R. Sikorski, Twitter – użyteczne narzędzie osiągania swoich celów [Twitter - A Useful Tool to Reach Your Goals] [in:] Nowe Media [New Media], ed. E. Mistewicz, Gdynia, Wydawnictwo Operon, 2012, No. 2, p. 39.

17 Based on the questionnaire sent to the deputies to the Polish Parliament in January - March 2013 (the full text of the questionnaire is enclosed as an appendix).

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Apart from politicians, Twitter is also used by journalists, columnists, local activists, actors, sportsmen and celebrities who comprise professional groups which, in a broad sense, are the leaders of public opinion. Only a small number of users are actually ordinary citizens.

In this sense, information published on Twitter is often in need of a mediator, the role which is often played by traditional media (usually the press but also more and more frequently by television). The truth is that it is only once the information about a Twitter post reaches traditional media that most people find out about it. Hence the need to propose a real model of political communication on Twitter and make the existing one more precise:

Figure 1. The process of political communication via Twitter.

Source: own study.

In this model, it is a politician (sender of a message) who initiates the political communication process with a post in the Twitter profile. Then the content is published in the socalled timeline, which is a noticeboard that can be used by every user who follows the politician, in order to remain in touch with its content. The next stage is the mediation by a journalist (also a user of the service) who broadcasts the information to the general public. Finally, the message appears in news services and the main issues of TV news programmes and in this way the politician’s message is communicated to the larger number of citizens.

This model is justifiable if only for the reason that politicians in the first instance use Twitter to inform the public of important matters. In this way journalists of traditional media become the group that disseminates the information.

It is perhaps worth giving an example of how this model works in practice. On 8 February 2013, the EU Summit took place in Brussels, devoted to the discussion of the new EU budget for 2014-2020, which was a very important theme for every citizen. Immediately before boarding a flight to Brussels, Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted a message on his profile which was published by the mass media and subsequently broadly discussed.

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Illustration 2. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s post immediately before his flight to Brussels for the EU Summit (7 March 2013).

The next three days will have an impact on the entire decade. This is the most important task I have had to deal with to date. Keep your fingers crossed!

Source: The official Twitter Profile of Prime Minister Donald Tusk https://twitter.com/premiertusk, [05.05.2013].

Later on, the Prime Minister fed more messages regarding the progress in the negotiations to the general public:

Illustration 3. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Twitter entry posted during the EU Summit in Brussels on 8 February 2013.

27 hours into meetings and non-stop negotiations, the consensus is still uncertain.

Source: Prime Minister’s Donald Tusk’s official Twitter profile https://twitter.com/premiertusk, [05.05.2013].

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While all media followed the Prime Minister’s profile in the expectation of further news, it was Paweł Graś, government Press Officer who announced the initial success:

Illustration 4. The post by Paweł Graś informing of the end of the negotiations in Brussels (8 February 2013).

an SMS from the Prime Minister: “we’ve done it!”

Source: The internet service Wirtualna Polska, http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,8311,title,Szczyt-UE-wBrukseli-Donald-Tusk-do-Grasia-zalatwione,wid,15320201,wiadomosc.html, [04.05.2013].

The example demonstrates that the model of political communication proposed above is fully justified. During the negotiations in Brussels, Twitter was the main source of information for the media. The mass media were in fact dominated by the news originally published by the microblog.

Conclusion It is without a doubt that new media have become an important element of contemporary political communication. No established or aspiring politician can afford being absent from the Internet space, and there are a few reasons for thinking this way. Internet is the space full of incredible energy and potential for mobilization. Any proper communication strategy run in the Internet can attract a considerable human capital which may prove useful in the subsequent activities. Let us also remember that it is mostly young people who actively use new media.

They are the potential voters who still remain unconvinced that voting in the common elections makes sense at all, so they certainly need attention and encouragement.

Political communication through new media is also a cheap and fast method of reaching the electorate. There is no need for organizing meetings or giving passionate speeches. It is often enough to publish a good photograph, accompanied by a short description to win support. One could say that this, in a way, trivializes political communication but this is what reality demands today.

It is the main goal of every politician to win and maintain a stable support of the general public. A continuous increase of the number of Internet users, combined with increased access to broadband connections allows for a conclusion that political communication via the Internet space (especially through new media) may become a prevailing operating mode of every politician.

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Literature: Brodzińska – Mirowska B., Internet w komunikowaniu politycznym [w:] Nowe media we współczesnym społeczeństwie, red. M. Jeziński, Toruń, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2011.

Budek K., Social media w biznesie, Warszawa, International Data Group Poland SA, 2013.

Dobek-Ostrowska B., Komunikowanie polityczne i publiczne, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2006.

Goban-Klas T., Wartki nurt mediów. Ku nowym formom społecznego życia informacji, Kraków, Towarzystwo Autorów i Wydawców Prac Naukowych UNIVERSITAS 2011.

Graś P., Sto czterdzieści ważnych znaków [w:] „Nowe media”, red. E. Mistewicz, Gdynia, Wydawnictwo Operon, 2013, nr. 3.

Levinson P., Nowe nowe media, Kraków, Wydawnictwo WAM, 2010.

Manovich L., Język nowych mediów, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Akademickie i Profesjonalne, 2006.

McQuail D., Teoria komunikowania masowego, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2007.

Mistewicz E., Dziesięć mitów Twittera [w:] „Nowe media”, red. E. Mistewicz, Gdynia, Wydawnictwo Operon, 2012, nr. 2.

Polskie Badania Internetu, http://www.pbi.org.pl/pl/aktualnosci/177/wyniki-megapanel-pbigemius-za-luty-2013, [01.05.2013].

Sikorski R., Twitter – użyteczne narzędzie osiągania swoich celów [w:] „Nowe media”, red. E. Mistewicz, Gdynia, Wydawnictwo Operon, 2012, nr. 2.

Szumlewicz P., Egalitarna polityka w dobie Internetu [w:] Re:polityka. Internet, a reforma instytucji demokratycznych: nadzieje, wyzwania, porażki, red. Ł. Jonak, Mazurek P., Olcoń M., Przybylska A., Tarkowski A., Zając J.M., Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Akademickiej i Profesjonalne 2006.

Zalewski P., Osiem cech Web 2.0, http://www.internetstandard.pl/news/107199/Osiem.cech.Web.20.html, [22.04.2013].

Appendix 1 Questionnaire “New media in the political communication process. New forms of dialogue with the society” What social media do you use?

Facebook Nasza-klasa Twitter Youtube Blog Other: Which social medium do you think to be the best way to contact your voters?

Facebook Nasza-klasa Twitter

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Youtube Blog Please briefly explain your answer to Q2

Do you have your personal Internet website?

Yes No In what way do you contact voters?

Organised meetings Regular open times Letters to voters Political rallies Internet Other: Do you think that new media can replace the traditional methods of communicating with your potential voters?

Yes No Why do you think so?

Bartłomiej Machnik – politolog, medioznawca, doktorant z zakresu nauk o polityce na Uniwersytecie Opolskim. Przewodniczący Koła Naukowego Doktorantów Nauk o Polityce UO.

Nowe media w procesie komunikacji politycznej.

Nowe kanały dialogu ze społeczeństwem Słowa kluczowe: Internet, nowe media, media społecznościowe, Web 2.0, komunikacja polityczna, Facebook, Twitter.

Streszczenie: Szybki rozwój Internetu sprawił, że nowe media stały się na przestrzeni kilku ostatnich lat głównym kanałem komunikacji społecznej. Dziś portale społecznościowe, video-blogi, czy strony internetowe, są głównym kanałem przekazywania informacji. Spełniają również funkcję autoprezentacji własnej osoby. Również w polityce nowe media zaczynają odgrywać ważną rolę.

Każdy liczący się polityk dziś posiada swój profil na Facebook’u i Twitterze. Politycy social media

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Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 4 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 4

uważają za najszybszy i najbardziej efektywny sposób dotarcia do wyborcy i ekspertów. Wszystkie powyższe fakty uprawniają badaczy do formułowania pytań związanych z przyszłością i dalszym stosowaniem tego rodzaju komunikacji z wyborcą. Czy nowe media zastąpią tradycyjne spotkania z wyborcami? Jak do tej kwestii odnoszą się krajowi politycy? Są to jedne z wielu pytań istotnych dla przyszłości marketingu politycznego.

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