Systematic analysis of the uptake and impact of web campaigning has been limited, particularly in the post-2004 social media era. Evidence from the web 1.0 period suggested that websites can make a difference to candidate support levels, but that a pattern of normalization had become established, with mainstream parties and candidates having a stronger online presence than their minor counterparts. The rise of social media has renewed questions about the dominance of major parties online. This paper uses data from four Australian Candidate Studies conducted between 2001 and 2010 to compare major and minor parties’ online campaign efforts, and to assess their electoral impact in the most recent 2010 national election. The results show a significantly greater uptake of web 2.0 applications among minor parties and a use of personal home pages by major parties. While this may suggest some equalizing of relations in digital campaigning, we find a personal website delivers a significantly more votes than web 2.0 campaign tools. Our findings are seen to confirm normalization overall. However, the much wider exploitation of social media tools by minor parties may mark a turning point in e-campaigning history, with the technology being more effectively deployed in future elections.
