Social media represent the latest evolution in the lobbying toolkit of interest organisations. Literature stresses the importance of social media as a tool targeting media or non-political actors. The extent to which interest groups have adopted social media for lobbying-specific purposes remains relatively ignored. Drawing on an original dataset gathered from a large-scale survey of over 1300 European interest organisations, this paper assesses the importance of social media in determining interest group access to EU institutions. Our paper encompasses several questions: What effect does social media use have on interest group access to EU institutions? Is access biased towards social media savvy groups? Does elite pluralism prevail or is social media, an essentially “outsider strategy,” only relevant to interest organisations dependent upon strategies of voice? Results cast light on these questions and suggest effective use of social media is an important determinant of interest group access to the EU.
