New Media - Opportunity for New and Small Parties? Political Communication before the Parliamentary Elections in Iceland in 2013

Abstract

This article presents results from a survey among political candidates standing in parliamentary elections in Iceland in the spring of 2013 regarding their use of media in the election campaign. The purpose of this study was twofold; first to determine the extent to which politicians have adopted new technologies, thereby adapting their election strategies to new realities and a transformed media environment characterized by hybridization between new networked media and traditional media logic. Secondly, to examine whether in a digitalized media era, there is a difference in media use between old and new political parties. The findings suggest a process of normalization and the potential advantage for new parties, due to easier access to communication channels created by less expensive new media outlets, was by and large negated by a more complex and diverse media environment.

Logics of the Icelandic Hybrid Media System: Snapchat and media-use before the 2016 and 2017 Althing elections

“…Studying the Icelandic case is in itself important in light of a relative dearth of research on political communication in the country, but it also provides an interesting case because of the dynamics of a hybrid media system, where both candidates and party organizations systematically target political messages to different audiences through a variety of media channels (Chadwick et al, 2016). A number of studies have been conducted on the use of social media in election campaigns in Scandinavia, many of them involving the use of Twitter (Jungherr, 2016), but only very few studies include Iceland (Bergsson 2014;Guðmundsson, 2014Guðmundsson, , 2016 According to one of these studies, a comparative qualitative study on political communication strategies in Iceland and Norway, communication experts of the major political parties in both countries were already in 2013 organizing in a hybrid manner with an integrated use of old and new media and emphasizing a "holistic communication strategy" (Guðmundsson, 2014). Similarities thus have been established in the development of political communication in Iceland and some other Nordic countries.…”

“…Earlier research shows that Facebook and to a lesser extent Twitter are important in Icelandic political communication (Bergsson, 2014;Guðmundsson, 2016;) but no systematic studies have been conducted on the newer social medium, Snapchat. This medium has gained enormous momentum since its introduction in 2012, in particular among younger voters -the very people that seem to have lost interest in electoral politics and who abstain from voting.…”

“…Only Facebook is a social medium used regularly by more people, but both Instagram and Twitter are much less used (Figure 1). Although it has been established that political candidates use Facebook extensively and much more than, for example, Twitter and Instagram (Bergsson, 2014;Guðmundsson, 2016), it cannot be inferred that their use of social media is simply a reflection of the popularity of these media with the public. Karlsen and Enjolras (2016) have pointed out that the success of individual candidates in hybrid media systems in most European countries, is dependent on their "digital hybrid competence", as they seldom have a professional US-style campaign organization built around them.…”

“…In light of Gibson's and McAllister's (2015) suggestion of a cyclical development with respect to the normalization and innovative hypothesis, referred to above, it must be assumed that the development of Web 2.0, or social media platforms, has continued to develop and their use and utility have become more dependent on resources. As suggested in a study of media use in the 2013 Icelandic elections, these resources might not necessarily be in the access to the platforms as such, but in the know-how, analysis and content creation needed to use these platforms effectively (Guðmundsson, 2016). As the hybrid system has matured in the last few years and thereby the use of social media, one can expect cyclical development and normalization to characterize political communication in the field of social media.…”

“…These changes are still underway and are examined in this paper through an assessment of how parliamentary candidates made use of media during the 2016 and 2017 parliamentary elections. By focusing on the adoption of the latest social media, Snapchat, and its relation to other platforms, the paper seeks to establish the relative importance of traditional and new media, their underlying logics, and explore the dynamics and character of the Icelandic condition, which has been classified as a hybrid media system (Guðmundsson, 2016).…”