Online Political Discourse on Facebook: An Analysis of Political Campaign Communication in Austria

Abstract

Key messageSocial media such as Facebook have the capacity to revolutionize public discourse as they encourage citizens to participate in politics and to engage with politicians.However, simply the fact that there is public discussion on political issues says yet nothing about its specific quality.From the viewpoint of Habermas' concept of deliberative democracy (1987) we define that only political discussion, which is oriented towards communicative principles of understanding, can promote the development of a deliberative public sphere.Along an index of quality of understanding (Verständigungsorientierungsindex, VOI) we examine political parties and candidates' Facebook communication (N=9428 posts and comments) during the most recent Austrian elections in Vienna in October 2010.The political discourse is following the principles of a quality of understanding if political actors do not only state their positions, but also give statements of reasons.If, in the case of debatable questions, they present specific proposals for solutions, they deal with others in a more or less respectful way and they express relevant doubts concerning positions and other participants.1 In Austria, about 80% of the population (age 14 and older) uses the Internet.Today, half of the Internet users use social media of which most (48%) turn to Facebook.Other social media are rarely visited (e.g., 3% of Austrian Internet users now use Twitter).Over the last three years, the number of people who use social media on a regular basis constantly increased: social media use among Internet users has tripled between 2009 and 2010 (for more information, see: http://mediare-search.orf.at/index2.htm?internet/internet_aim.htm (retrieved last Sept., 2012) Nevertheless, only a few people turn to social media when searching for political information.

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