The role of social media on European elections in Malta

Abstract

The phenomenon of social media has altered the way how different aspects of society function. Due to the modernisation of technology a change has taken place in the way communities and people interact with each other. This has contributed to the joint use of traditional and new media in every aspect of communication, including political campaigning. Politicians have changed the way they interact with the electorate due to the development of Web 2.0 and Social Networking Sites. This has resulted in social media gaining considerable importance within political campaigns. Social media has given politicians the unique opportunity to connect with their voters in a different way by using sites and applications such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The increased use of social media in political campaigning has been seen in Maltese political elections. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the different approaches candidates take in using social media through out their online campaigns. Therefore, this dissertation provides an in-depth study of the social media profiles of four candidates who contested for the 2019 European elections. A qualitative approach was taken. The use of structured interviews played an important role in the analysis due to the fact that there is lack of research into the use of social media throughout the European elections in Malta. The structured interviews were conducted with four Public Relations managers who helped shape the online campaign of their respective candidate. The results of the analysis indicate that although social media played a large part in every candidate’s campaign this was not the only medium used to communicate with the electorate. Social events such as door-to-door visits were still needed in order to communicate with the voters at a more personal level.