Social Media and Electoral Processes

Abstract

Existing research documents extensively explain the reasons for social media use during electoral campaigns. However, there is insufficient evidence showing that social media are indeed being used to complement traditional ways of communication. This chapter uses the diffusion of innovations theory to explain the adoption and non-adoption of Facebook (FB) by Romanian political parties during the 2019 European election campaign. The chapter addresses two research questions: the differences between Facebook adopters and non-adopters during this campaign in Romania and how this adoption or non-adoption impacted the overall election results. 885 Facebook posts were content analysed. This chapter evidences that adopting Facebook to engage the posts does not always result in improved electoral outcomes.