Social Media, like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, plays an increasingly important role in election campaigns: not only representatives and candidates as well as political parties in general, but also citizens and civil society organizations use social media to inform about political objectives, debate about controversial issues or mobilise for individual concerns. The project examines these changes based on the 2015 Hamburg state election.
Jan-Hinrik Schmidt and Christop Beyer talk about the concept, the objectives and the first findings of this study in
BredowCast – 007 – Social Media und die Bürgerschaftswahl in Hamburg.
Project Description
The project examines the role of social media in the run-up to the Hamburg state election on February 15th, 2015. It pursues four closely interwoven objects: first, it will review the social media activities of the candidates in the Hamburg state elections. Secondly, the project will characterise the course and the content of discussions on social media. Thirdly, it will collect the views of candidates regarding the significance of social media and its meaning for election campaigns. Finally, it will determine the significance of social media profiles for the voting decisions as seen from the point of view of the citizens.
Duration of the Project: December 2014 to October 2015.
