@article{2020:kelm:why_do_pol,
title = {Why do politicians use Facebook and Twitter the way they do? The influence of perceived audience expectations},
year = {2020},
note = {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.},
journal = {SCM Studies in Communication and Media},
pages = {8--34},
author = {Kelm, Ole},
volume = {9},
number = {1}
}