It is often believed that social media is an important tool for democracy and a crucial element for a successful election campaign. Previous research shows that the use of social media has positive effects on citizens’ political engagement. However, hardly any research investigates which mechanisms explain these beneficial effects. This study examines the relationship between style of communicating (i.e., personalized and interactive) on social media by political parties and candidates and political involvement. By using an experimental design (N=243), we examine whether more personalized communication and the use of interactive features on Twitter increases political involvement among citizens through social presence and perceived expertise. The results show that interactive communication leads to a stronger sense of interpersonal contact and perceived expertise, which positively affects political involvement. Personalized communication positively effects involvement through expertise. Privatized communication had a positive effect via social presence, however a negative effect via expertise.
