Title: Mayors' usage of blogs in local election campaign: the Spanish case study

Authors: J. Ignacio Criado, Guadalupe Martinez-Fuentes

Addresses: Departamento de Ciencia Politica y Relaciones Internacionales, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Edificio de Ciencias Juridicas, Politicas y Economicas, 1^a planta, C/ Marie Curie, 1, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, 28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain. ' Departamento de Ciencia Politica y de la Administracion, Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociologia, C/Rector Lopez Argueta, s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain

Abstract: Blogs are concentrating on the attention of both electoral and political e-communication studies. Are political leaders using blogs for campaigning? To what extent? How do they do it? These questions are empirically tested by focusing on blogging practices developed during 2007 local elections in large Spanish cities. Preliminary findings confirm that increasing use of ICTs for campaigning put political blogs at the forefront of this trend. Secondly, few of candidates attempted to be ambitious in the use of the innovative relational capacities of blogs. Thirdly, local political leaders still consider the political party|s support as pivotal for their electoral success.

Keywords: electoral campaigns; political leaders; web campaigning; blogging; 2.0 philosophy; Spain; local elections; blogs; weblogs; e-communication; electronic communication; online communication; political communication; ICT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEG.2010.038608

International Journal of Electronic Governance, 2010 Vol.3 No.4, pp.395 - 413

Published online: 13 Feb 2011 *

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