Microblogging Meets Politics. The Influence of Communication in 140 Characters on Romanian Presidential Elections in 2009
Microblogging Meets Politics. The Influence of Communication in 140 Characters on Romanian Presidential Elections in 2009

Summary/Abstract: The new media have changed the political scene dramatically. Thus, in the case of certain states such as the USA, Iran or Moldova, microblogging – especially through the platform Twitter – proved an efficient communication tool. Sharing is emerging as a way of distributing the news—tweets from the streets of Iran and from the rubble of Haiti have been retweeted hundreds of times in a new, virtual form of word of mouth. But what was the case of Romania, considering that, at the end of 2009, presidential elections were held here? The aim of the paper is to explore whether communication in 140 characters has had an influence on the Romanian presidential elections in 2009. The paper was facilitated by the online project Elections in 140 characters developed on the microblogging platform Cirip.eu, by creating at the start of the campaign a group dedicated to the presidential elections. Messages on this topic were sent in this group, and were also imported both from Twitter and from blogs, all of them reflecting the interaction/debate on the elections, between Romanian Internet users. However, the authors believe that if microblogging is used effectively it has the potential to do more than facilitate interaction between users (or users and candidates).

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