Why do politicians use Facebook and Twitter the way they do? The influence of perceived audience expectations

Ole Kelm

doi:10.5771/2192-4007-2020-1-8

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis
- 1–7 EDITORIAL 1–7
  - Editorial Thomas Zerback, Andreas M. Scheu, Matthias R. Hastall, Christoph Neuberger, Juliana Raupp Thomas Zerback, Andreas M. Scheu, Matthias R. Hastall, Christoph Neuberger, Juliana Raupp
- 8–124 FULL PAPER 8–124
  - 8–34 Why do politicians use Facebook and Twitter the way they do? The influence of perceived audience expectations Ole Kelm Ole Kelm 8–34
  - 35–61 Ontology of opposition online. Representing antagonistic structures on the Internet Benjamin Krämer, Nina Springer Benjamin Krämer, Nina Springer 35–61
  - 62–88 Gendered hate speech in YouTube and YouNow comments: Results of two content analyses Nicola Döring, M. Rohangis Mohseni Nicola Döring, M. Rohangis Mohseni 62–88
  - 89–124 Voxel generation. Raising awareness for informatics and society among high-school pupils through a game-design project Vera Schwarz, Gerit Götzenbrucker, Fares Kayali, Christiane Grill, Peter Purgathofer Vera Schwarz, Gerit Götzenbrucker, Fares Kayali, Christiane Grill, Peter Purgathofer 89–124
- 125–149 RESEARCH-IN-BRIEF 125–149
  - Mit zweierlei Maß gemessen? Ein Vergleich der für Politiker und Fußballer bei Steuer- und Drogendelikten geforderten Konsequenzen Catharina Vögele Catharina Vögele
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SCM Studies in Communication and Media , page 8 - 34

Why do politicians use Facebook and Twitter the way they do? The influence of perceived audience expectations

Autoren

Ole Kelm

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2020-1-8
- ISSN: 2192-4007
- ISSN online: 2192-4007
Abstract

Politicians’ social media use affects their relationship with citizens. For example, politicians are better evaluated when they communicate interactively. However, they mostly use social media to broadcast information to their audience. This study asks why politicians use Facebook and Twitter the way they do. The study contends that politicians want to satisfy their audiences’ expectations, to get favorable reactions and increase their visibility, and that politicians from different parties have different audiences who have different expectations for how politicians should communicate. Data from two surveys conducted among national (n = 118) and local (n = 859) German politicians show that politicians’ Facebook and Twitter communication is strongly oriented to their perceptions of their audiences’ expectations. The party size did not influence politicians’ Twitter communication, but their Facebook communication: Compared to politicians from major parties, politicians from minor parties communicate in more interactive ways via Facebook. In addition, politicians from minor parties perceive more strongly than their colleagues from major parties that their audience expects them to criticize other politicians or journalists.
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