Austria’s European Parliament Election 2014 in the Twittersphere

Web 2.0 - particularly social media, such as Twitter - has dramatically changed the political sphere. Nowadays politicians use Twitter as a communication channel to generate comprehension and support for political ideas among the public. In turn, citizens directly negotiate relevant political issues with politicians. Additionally, the media itself shapes this dialogue by providing both sides with political information. However, little is known about how the triangle between politics – public – media addressed Austria’s National Election 2013 on Twitter, being the core of this work. Using visualization tools and content analyses, online social networks and political agendas are evaluated. Results indicate a divergent Twitter use by the different eligible parties. Whereas well-established parties were hardly present on Twitter, small uprising parties not only used Twitter much more frequently but also conveyed political key issues such as education and tax reductions. Implications for the future use of Twitter are discussed.