The Use of Social Networking Platform Twitter by Russian and British Politicians: Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Recent transformation of media into the computer-controlled infrastructure has fundamentally affected all spheres of society and social life. The paper focuses on the growing adoption of social networking sites by politicians in an attempt to foster better communication with the public. To examine the use of social networking platforms in political communication the comparative analysis of Twitter accounts of three Russian and three British politicians was carried out against the theoretical background of mediatization of politics. The concept of “mediatization” presupposes a social change process in which media have become increasingly influential and deeply integrated into different spheres of society. Politics is not an exception. At present social networking platforms are transforming people’s engagement with politics and make politicians more open to the public. In the course of research both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The results address three areas: format and frequency of social networking use by politicians for sharing information with the public, perceived effectiveness of social networking tools for communication of politicians with the public, and the degree of interaction of politicians with the public. The results show that politicians rely on responsiveness, interactivity and engagement to involve users into political process. The results also indicate that Russian politicians use fewer multimedia tools than British ones and are more reserved in expressing their ideas. British users are more active than Russian ones and are always ready to take part in political discussions. This can be accounted for by, at least, two factors. One of them is a long tradition of participatory democracy in Great Britain which presupposes open discussions of political issues aimed at achieving rationally motivated consensus. The other –a high level of online activity of British politicians. Findings can help PR-practitioners to improve the use of social networking sites by Russian politicians to increase the impact of political communication on the public.