Social Media-PR Tools for Romanian Politicians?

Abstract

While the social media optimists believe online political communication implies a bigger participation of the audience, this study shows that politicians are preoccupied with their political image and less concerned of building a dialogue with their voters. Our hypothesis is that politicians use online communication to build a certain image and they use social media less for developin g a relationship with their target audience. The content analysis method was applied on the Facebook accounts and on blogs belonging to the leaders of the Romanian parliamentary parties at two different moments: January-February 2012 riots and July- August 2012 Referendum campaign.