THE IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION. A NEW FORM OF ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN

In this paper, the author, starting from literature, makes a brief analysis of political communication and message transmission during the election campaign via the Internet in general, and through social media in particular. The power of new technologies to mobilize the electorate has been proven in US election campaigns from 2008 when Barak Obama used them with great success, but also in Romania’s presidential campaign in November 2014 when Klaus Iohannis became president as a result of using the social network Facebook. In the short period since it began to be used in political communication, the Internet has managed to transform the way in which politicians, political parties, government organizations, but especially the media and, not least, the citizen acts.