Mobilizing Effects of Online Campaigning – The Swiss CaseMarianne Fraefel – Cedem, Krems, 03.05.2012
2
Introduction
Campaign management
Communication strategies Political enagement
Voluntary enagement
Party internal communication
E-campaigning
Supply Demand
Type of party
Suppo
rter g
roup
sCantonal elections 2009/2010 3 cantons 5 parties
inform / mobilize
Channels
websitessocial media
Image: twin72.typepad.com
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Swiss cantonal parties
Semi direct democratic political system with pronounced federal structures
- Competences and right of self-determination of Swiss cantons are far-reaching
- Campaigning in elections and popular votes (up to 4 times a year)
Decentralised structure of Swiss party system
- Large number of small and heterogeneous party units at local level
- Cantonal and local parties contribute to establishing linkage to party base
Cantonal political parties as organizations
- Mainly self-financing through member fees and donations
- Limited budgets & limited paid staff
- Reliance on voluntary work
- Approximately 4% of Swiss residents active in political parties (Freiwilligen-Monitor 2010)
- Around ¼ of party members engage themselves as volunteers (Freiwilligen-Monitor 2007)
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Methodology
Three perspectives and methods
1. Semi-structured interviews: 25 campaign managers
2. Content analysis: party websites
cantonal parties: 15, local parties: 27, cantonal youth sections:13
3. Survey: party base
distributed: 9472, response: 1989, considered: 1920
female: 31%, male: 69% / candidates: 14%, non-candidates: 86%
age:
below 20
20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 over 800%
10%
20%
30%
participants in survey (n=1920)
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Functions and design of party internal communication
Functions
- content-oriented vs. activity-oriented mobilization
Communicative strategies and target groups
Relate to parties’ expectations of supporter base (distribution of tasks)
Relate to assumed engagement of supporter base (necessity of mobilization)
Design of internal campaign communication
Broad range of communication channels
Target-specific communication towards younger voters
Information Supporter base (plus electorate at large)
Mobilization Supporter base: voting for party / viral campaigning
Activists: candidature, party stands, flyers etc
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Supply side of e-campaigning
Party websites
Heterogeneous use and design
- Differences relate to size and type of party unit
Focus on Information
Opportunities are not fully exploited
- Continuous communication on demand
- Multimedia design
- Participation
- Generating resources (members, donations)
- Information on campaign and candidates
- Mobilizing volunteer campaigners
- Popular votes: 36% signature lists (similar across types of party units)
- Elections: 38% campaigning material (mainly cantonal parties)
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Supply side of e-campaigning
Social Media
Usage
- Confined to Facebook and different video platforms
- Presence on social networks differs across types of party units
- mainly cantonal and youth parties
- relates to resources (know how, staff/time)
- Experimental usage and restricted interaction
- Candidates’ presence is not systematically promoted
Assessment by campaign managers
- Heterogeneous and tentative
- Based on assumptions and personal experience
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Demand side of e-campaigning
Communicative preferences of the supporter base
- Traditional channels and mediated communication are highly appreciated
- Acceptance of online communication diminishes with age
- Differences between social media and other online communication channels
%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
-2930-4445-5960+
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Demand side of e-campaigning
Sources of information on elections
- Many channels are equally important for all age groups
- Party websites are more important to the younger supporter base
- Supporter base at large considers a “professional” Internet presence as important, irrespective of personal usage
party office n=1790
party stand party event
n=1790
local newspaper
n=1790
web site n=1788
information via mail n=1790
friends and family
n=1790
media in general n=1332
other%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
-2930-4445-5960+
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Demand side of e-campaigning
Party websites
Usage
- More than half of the members and supporters use party websites at least once a year
- The percentage of (regular) users is clearly bigger among the younger supporter base.
Mobilization
otherorder party press
donation informationblog / discussion forum
party intranetvideo- / audio partyorder e-newsletter
download / disseminate campaign materialdownload signature lists
information on party representativescontact information
calendar party eventsparty information in general
information on elections and popular votes
3%
4%
4%
5%
5%
6%
11%
16%
30%
42%
45%
60%
68%
81%
type of usage n=1365
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Demand side of e-campaigning
Social Media
Connectivity
- Parties do not necessarily pursue a social media strategy
- Mismatch between demand and supply side of communication
- Overall demand for contact via social media is rather small (n=245)
ChannelSupplycontact via channel
Demandnot at all / rather not rather / very much
Party pressno 31% 6%
yes 69% 94%
E-newsletterno 73% 29%
yes 27% 71%
Social Mediano 99% 66%
yes 1% 34%
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Demand side of e-campaigning
Social Media
Usage
- Many members and supporters are not & cannot be reached through this channel
- 23% of the surveyed persons have at least one profile in a social network
Mobilization
Supporter base uses social networks to engage themselves in e-campaigning (44%)
Candidates use social networks in the context of their party affiliation more actively
coordination dates / events
exchange with other members and supporters
political persusasion - elections and popular votes
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
7%
19%
16%
16%
32%
56%
candidatesnon-candidates
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Relevance of e-Campaigning
Voluntary Campaigning
Active volunteers among supporter base
- Relevance of e-campaigning in relation to other campaigning activities
- Motivation
- Parties‘ general appeals to become active in campaigning work as a driver
- Personal invitations to engage in certain activies work as strong driver (including e-campaigning)
Campaigning activity% of candidatesn=259
% of non-candidatesn=1625
Campaigning committee, action group 51% 8%
Presence at party stand 76% 13%
Distributing posters, flyers 77% 24%
Discussions with family, friends 78% 57%
Online campaigning 41% 6%
Donating for campaign 52% 38%
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Relevance of e-Campaigning
Voluntary Campaigning
Potential volunteers among supporter base
- 1/3 of inactive members and supporters can potentially be mobilized
- Motivation / Conditions- Being personally addressed by party (48%)
- Activities in a limited time frame / with little efforts (49%)
- activity performed from home (22%)
- being provided with campaigning material (14%)
- Affordances could be met by using ICT in a target and goal oriented way
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Mobilizing effects of e-Campaigning
Content-oriented mobilization
- Exploitation of opportunities in e-campaigning relates to size and type of party units
- Parties lack knowledge on communicative preferences of their supporter base
- Parties and supporter base both make use of a broad range of communication channels
- Communicative preferences and behaviour differ across age groups
- Specific online communication channels are clearly more important to younger supporters
Activity-oriented mobilization
Addressing volunteer campaigners adequately is important for inciting engagement
Parties’ support for voluntary e-campaigning is limited
In relation to other voluntary campaign activities, e-campaigning plays a subordinate role
There is an interest for instruments that allow supporters to become active as multipliers
Some supporter groups engage themselves in e-campaigning more extensively
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Concluding remarks
Parties need to stay tuned to their supporters
- Trends towards eroding party bases and increase in volatile voters
Communicative demands are diversified
- Parties need to find ways to address voters and support their volunteers adequately with limited resources
Focus on already active members and supporters
- Communicative affordances may differ with view to the electorate at large
- Voluntary e-campaigners may contribute to integrating new supporters communicatively
What next?
- ICT may lead to reassessing prevalent concepts of membership and voluntary engagement
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Thanks for your attention
Contact
Marianne Fraefel
Berner Fachhochschule Wirtschaft
Morgartenstrasse 2a, Postfach 305
CH-3000 Bern 22
www.e-government.bfh.ch
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