The strategic mechanisms of online communication: explaining various party uses of social media

This paper discusses the strategic mechanisms underlying political communication online, based on the individual characteristics of parties - with variables linked to organization and identity. It addresses specifically the ways to observe these empirically, based on a first data collection of first hand social media data from 12 Belgian political parties. In doing so, this paper (and the related PhD) aims at building an integrated theory of strategic political communication as action per se – that is, as deeper than broadcasting: how do the functions associated to political parties change in the digital sphere? How are their objectives performed? This theoretical framework considers communication as the visible layer of strategic action, while considering the underlying explanations for these. The broader research project goes beyond electoral periods by looking at what parties do online at several points in time (collecting data before, during and after the electoral campaign of 2024 in Belgium), and to offer a theoretical framework that can be used for other cases, but also, as a way to link the 'online' and the 'offline' – too often separated – realms. It also proposes to look at the digital in a more unified way, by opting for a multi-platform framework. Note: this paper is a theoretical paper based on my PhD thesis, and is thus a draft part of my conceptualization for my thesis.