Abstract

New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have changed the way how people interact in the new virtual spaces. Politics, as an expression of such interaction, is no exception to this. This study focuses on the contraposition of the mobilizing and normalizing theses, in its aim to demonstrate that social networks are a valid source for electoral political processes analysis. Therefore, the research focuses on the dynamics generated by the major presidential candidates in Costa Rica, during the 2013-2014 electoral campaign, in its official Facebook profiles, by assessing each candidate’s communication, interaction and, finally, mobilization capabilities as from these virtual spaces. Such data are complemented and contrasted with national opinion polls results, as well as the final election results.

Published in: International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2016)

  • Date of Conference: 9-11 November 2015
  • DOI: 10.2053/iSociety.2015.0018
  • ISBN: 978-1-908320-47-6
  • Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland

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