Th is book analyzes the impact of social media on democracy and politics at the subnationallevel in developed and developing countries. Over the last decade or so, socialmedia has transformed politics. Off ering political actors opportunities to organize, mobilize,and connect with constituents, voters, and supporters, social media has becomean important tool in global politics as well as a force for democracy. Most of the availableresearch literature focuses on the impact of social media at the national level; this bookfills that gap by analyzing the political uses of social media at the sub-national level. Th e book is divided into two parts. Part One, "Social Media for Democracy" includeschapters that analyze potential contributions of social media tools to the realizing ofbasic values of democracy, such as public engagement, transparency, accountability,participationand collaboration at the sub-national level. Part Two, "Social Media inPolitics" focuses on the use of social media tools by political actors in political processesand activities (online campaigns, protests etc.) at the local, regional and stategovernment levels during election and non-election periods. Combining theoreticaland empirical analysis, each chapter provides evaluations of overarching issues, questions,and problems as well as real-world experiences with social media, politics, anddemocracy in a diverse sample of municipalities. Th is volume will be of use to graduatestudents, academicians, and researchers, in several disciplines and fi elds, such as publicadministration, political science, ICT, sociology, communication studies and publicpolicy as well as politicians and practitioners.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Part I: Social Media for Democracy.- 1. Twitter Communication Styles of Mayors in Greece: Their Effect on Citizens' Engagement.- 2. The Effect of Post Type and Post Category on Citizen Interaction Level on Facebook: The Case of Municipalities in Turkey.- 3. Political Situation and Community Engagement Policy via Facebook: An Empirical Study of Municipalities in Spain.- 4. Social Media Use in Participatory Budgeting: The Case of Twitter in the U.S. Cities.- Part II: Social Media in Politics.- 5. Perceptions, Uses, Appearances, and Consequences of Social Media Campaigning: Lessons from the Municipal Facebook Campaigning, Israel 2013.- 6. Small Is the New Big - At Least on Twitter: A Diachronic Study of Twitter Use During Two Regional Norwegian Elections.- 7. The Curation and Analysis of Twitter Lists in Sub-national Political Bodies: The State of Maine Case, USA.- 8. Elections and Digital Media in Multilevel Party Systems: The Case of Ecuador.- 9. Exploring the Role of Social Media in Protests: Hashtag Activism in South Africa.- 10. Challenges of Digital Politics at the Subnational Level: Struggling Municipalities in Rural Areas in Sweden.