CANDIDATES IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA (2014): THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN POLITICAL MARKETING

Abstract

The phenomenon of social media has drawn the attention of the specialists from the political marketing because it contributes quickly and efficiently to the increase of the political product’s visibility and appeals to its supporters for content creation and viral promotion of the political messages. In addition, the candidate can communicate directly with the citizens and may involve them in creating virtual communities. In our study we briefly present the way in which social media was used, timidly at first, during the campaign for the 2008 parliamentary elections, for the 2009 presidential elections and for the 2012 local and parliamentary elections. The importance of social media increased during the 2012 Romanian presidential impeachment referendum and contributed decisively to rallying voters to go to the polls and, implicitly, to the Klaus Iohannis’s victory in the 2014 presidential elections. We have focused especially on Facebook, as social network, because it has managed to attract the largest number of users in Romania. The success of the 2.0 political actors does not imply (only) to use the network as an alternative news channel, but especially to establish the bidirectional connection and constant interaction with virtual friends.