SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL OF POLITICAL PERMANENT CAMPAIGN ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ACTIVITY OF POLISH POLITICIANS

Abstract

In the context of the processes of professionalization and modernization of political communication and mediatization of politics, the aim of the article is to show how to use social media in strategies for communicating of party leaders on the Polish political scene. The research questions concerned attempts of the politicians to use social media to implement communication marketing strategies, in particular in the aspect of engaging and mobilizing Internet users not only in the periods of electoral campaigns, but also in the long-term perspective. The messages disseminated by politicians in social media (mainly on Facebook and Twitter) were analysed primarily from the point of view of their effectiveness (measured by the popularity of entries and their media visibility). It was important to pay attention to the ways of presenting and creating the political reality by politicians through the media. The empirical research covered the years 2015-2017 and were of the longitudinal nature. The basic research method is the analysis of the content, both quantitative and qualitative. Examining the way of the presentation of specific issues I am using the concept of framing the media messages. According to the first hypothesis (H1), the use of social media by Polish politicians proves the growing professionalization of political communication, especially through the prism of its Americanization based on the concept of a hybrid style of communication, thus adapting selected solutions tested on the American political scene to Polish realities. The second hypothesis (H2) indicates that in the communication strategies of political party leaders, social media are perceived as a communication tool which primary function is not only to inform but also to maintain relations with a potential electorate, in accordance with the assumptions of relationship marketing.