Campaigning on Facebook and Twitter. Explaining Communication Patterns of Candidates in the Social Web During Germany’s Federal Election Campaign 2013

Which factors influence candidates‘ performance at Social Network Sites during campaigns? The aim of this study is to identify in which way individual candidates for German Federal Elections in 2013 accomplish information provision for (potential) followers as a main function of campaigning in Web 2.0. The main focus is on the analysis of factors that influence the compliance of this function. Are candidates driven by personal characteristics, by rationalities of their potential voters or by factors which are related to their party? For this purpose, the activities of candidates at facebook and Twitter were ascertained and analyzed quantitatively in a multi-level analysis over the period of four weeks before the election. The large-N-study with more than 600 cases will present a widespread insight into the usage of individual campaign strategies. It builds a foundation for further analyses of the interaction between politicians and citizens in the Web 2.0 era.