ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the adoption and use of social media during election campaigns in the UK. It focuses on data that compare the prioritisation of different media use to identify how social media are embedded strategically within a campaigns. The Greens, Labour, Conservatives, and Liberal Democrats also utilised Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to create multiple points of entry and participation in their campaign. The European parliamentary Elections of 2004 offered little evidence that the Internet was becoming a serious electoral battleground. Evidence showed that the online campaign, or rather the lack of a campaign, largely reflected the apathy of national politicians and the media with the second-order election. In terms of the effort parties make in communicating via these platforms, there seems to be no correspondence between the number of posts, tweets, or videos and the likes, followers, or subscribers earned.
