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Members of European Parliament (MEPs) on Social Media: Understanding the Underlying Mechanisms of Social Media Adoption and Popularity

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Abstract

The present study examines the usage of social media (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of the 8th and 7th legislative term. Specifically, it examines the differences in social media usage between MEPs of the current legislature (2014–2019) and MEPs of the preceding period (2009–2014). Moreover, it tests the impact of several predictors on MEPs’ social media adoption and popularity, as measured by the number of social media supporters. Differences in social media usage of MEPs were found to be explained by variables such as parliamentarians’ gender, Euro-party affiliation, and country of origin. Further, the results suggest that the social media popularity of MEPs can be predicted by the European region from which political actors originate, the ideology of their Euro-party affiliation, and the type of committee to which MEPs are assigned. In addition, the study sheds light on how the two platforms (Facebook and Twitter) differ in regard to the factors that impact MEPs’ social media popularity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Yannacopoulou Anastasia for her constructive comments in the revised version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Digital Media and Communication Department, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, PO Box 30, 521 00, Kastoria, Greece

    G. Lappas & A. Triantafillidou

  2. Department of Business Administration, University of West Attica, Petrou Ralli & Thivwn 250, 122 44, Egaleo, Athens, Greece

    P. Yannas

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  1. G. Lappas
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  2. A. Triantafillidou
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  3. P. Yannas
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Correspondence to G. Lappas.

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An earlier version of this paper was published at the conference proceedings of MISNC’18, which was held in Saint-Etienne, France, July 16–18 2018 as Lappas, Georgios, Triantafillidou, Amalia & Yannas Prodromos (2018) “Social Media Adoption and Popularity of Members of the European Parliament”, MISNC ‘18, Proceedings of the 5th Multidisciplinary International Social Networks Conference, Article No22, Saint-Etienne, France, July 16–18 2018, ACM New York, NY, USA, ISBN: 978-1-4503-6465-2, https://doi.org/10.1145/3227696.3227722. This paper presents new data in comparison with the conference paper.

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Lappas, G., Triantafillidou, A. & Yannas, P. Members of European Parliament (MEPs) on Social Media: Understanding the Underlying Mechanisms of Social Media Adoption and Popularity. Rev Socionetwork Strat 13, 55–77 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12626-019-00033-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12626-019-00033-5

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