ABSTRACT
The arrival of the participatory web 2.0 has been hailed by many as a media revolution, bringing with it new tools and possibilities for direct political action. Through specialised online platforms, mainstream social media or blogs, citizens in many countries are increasingly seeking to have their voices heard online, whether it is to lobby, to support or to complain about their elected representatives. Politicians, too, are adopting "new media" in specific ways, though they are often criticised for failing to seize the full potential of online tools to enter into dialogue with their electorates. Bringing together perspectives from around the world, this volume examines emerging forms of citizen participation in the face of the evolving logics of political communication, and provides a unique and original focus on the gap which exists between political uses of digital media by the politicians and by the people they represent.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |96 pages
Participation and Political Communication
chapter |12 pages
Talking to Themselves
chapter |17 pages
Two Step Flow Twitter Communication in 2013 Italian Political Election
chapter |18 pages
Ad Hoc Mini-Publics on Twitter
chapter |21 pages
Is Twitter Invigorating Spanish Democracy?
part |109 pages
Emerging Forms of Digital Media-based Political Participation by Citizens and Civic Activists