This contribution proposes to study the use of web 2.0 applications (including blogs and new social media) by focusing on the activities employed by political organizations in the context of public debates revolving around the salient issue of unemployment in six Western European countries (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, and Switzerland) from October 2009 to January 2010. The empirical analysis draws on data collected in the framework of interviews which were conducted with most important collective actors (political parties, public administrations, economic interest groups, and social movement organizations) involved in the labor market domain of these countries. In order to explain the use of web 2.0 applications, I will focus on both contextual and actor-related factors. On the country level, I will first hypothesize that the use of new ICTs depends on the technological development. The idea guiding this hypothesis is that political actors face greater incentives to resort to online tools in contexts in which the internet has achieved a high level of penetration. I thus expect Italian actors to use Web 2.0 applications to a significantly lesser degree. My second contextual hypothesis states that British actors will excel in this respect. This expectation is based on cultural diffusion processes. As web 2.0 type functionalities have been introduced in the U.S. context, these innovations may be more pervasively adopted in the United Kingdom than in continental Europe. Regarding the actor level, particular attention will be devoted to political parties. I will examine whether parties are more likely to resort to web 2.0 tools than the remaining actor types. In addition, the role played by the parties’ size, ideology, and governmental participation will be studied
