Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of emerging theory on the intersections of social media and politics. It presents concepts such as hybrid media and third spaces as means to conceptualise the continuing transformations in the contemporary media ecology, and examines the impact of networked media logic on existing systems of political communication. The very dawn of democratic structures, in Ancient Greece, is inextricably linked to the gradual development of effective systems for the mediation of ideas between political leaders and the public. Political science and media and communication studies—and allied disciplines beyond—have recognised this interdependency of politics and the media. The book explores in detail the gradually increasing adoption and adaptation of social media for political campaigning, across a range of national and regional elections and referenda.