Introduction.- Part I: Social Media for Democracy.- 1. Twitter Communication Styles of Mayors in Greece: Their Effect on Citizens’ Engagement.- 2. The Effect of Post Type and Post Category on Citizen Interaction Level on Facebook: The Case of Municipalities in Turkey.- 3. Political Situation and Community Engagement Policy via Facebook: An Empirical Study of Municipalities in Spain.- 4. Social Media Use in Participatory Budgeting: The Case of Twitter in the U.S. Cities.- Part II: Social Media in Politics.- 5. Perceptions, Uses, Appearances, and Consequences of Social Media Campaigning: Lessons from the Municipal Facebook Campaigning, Israel 2013.- 6. Small Is the New Big – At Least on Twitter: A Diachronic Study of Twitter Use During Two Regional Norwegian Elections.- 7. The Curation and Analysis of Twitter Lists in Sub-national Political Bodies: The State of Maine Case, USA.- 8. Elections and Digital Media in Multilevel Party Systems: The Case of Ecuador.- 9. Exploring the Role of Social Media in Protests: Hashtag Activism in South Africa.- 10. Challenges of Digital Politics at the Subnational Level: Struggling Municipalities in Rural Areas in Sweden.
Th is book analyzes the impact of social media on democracy and politics at the subnational
level in developed and developing countries. Over the last decade or so, social
media has transformed politics. Off ering political actors opportunities to organize, mobilize,
and connect with constituents, voters, and supporters, social media has become
an important tool in global politics as well as a force for democracy. Most of the available
research literature focuses on the impact of social media at the national level; this book
fills that gap by analyzing the political uses of social media at the sub-national level.
Th e book is divided into two parts. Part One, “Social Media for Democracy” includes
chapters that analyze potential contributions of social media tools to the realizing of
basic values of democracy, such as public engagement, transparency, accountability,
participation and collaboration at the sub-national level. Part Two, “Social Media in
Politics” focuses on the use of social media tools by political actors in political processes
and activities (online campaigns, protests etc.) at the local, regional and state
government levels during election and non-election periods. Combining theoretical
and empirical analysis, each chapter provides evaluations of overarching issues, questions,
and problems as well as real-world experiences with social media, politics, and
democracy in a diverse sample of municipalities. Th is volume will be of use to graduate
students, academicians, and researchers, in several disciplines and fi elds, such as public
administration, political science, ICT, sociology, communication studies and public