Green light for interaction: Party use of social media during the 2014 Swedish election year

Abstract

Assessing Swedish political party use of Twitter and Facebook during the 2014 election year, this paper traces what is defined as broadcasting (one-way communication) and interactive (two-way communication) practices on the services mentioned. While both approaches to political campaigning have been integral to party activity since the pre-digital era, the Internet — and specifically the previously mentioned services — have often been pointed to as having the potential to influence political actors to move beyond one-way practices and to instead engage in reciprocal interaction with their potential supporters. While previous scholarship has suggested a variety of influences for parties to interact with potential voters online, the results presented here suggest that in the Swedish context, parties purporting a ‘green’ agenda emerge as more active in this regard.