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International Conference on Multidisciplinary Social Networks Research

MISNC 2015: Multidisciplinary Social Networks Research pp 437–447Cite as

The Role of Facebook in the 2014 Greek Municipal Elections

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 540))

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Facebook by candidates running for the 2014 Greek Municipal Elections by addressing the following questions: (1) which factors affect Facebook adoption by municipal candidates?, and (2) whether Facebook usage along with the popularity of candidates’ Facebook pages influence candidates’ vote share. Results indicate that Facebook is not a very popular campaigning tool among municipal candidates in Greece. This implies that Greek candidates still rely on traditional ways to lure their voters. Furthermore, findings reveal that candidates running in large municipalities who hadn’t been elected before are more likely to utilize Facebook as a means of political marketing. Despite the low adoption rate, results suggested that candidates who made use of Facebook won more votes compared to non-Facebook candidates. Moreover, it was found that a candidate’s Facebook page popularity is a good indicator of the candidate’s vote share.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Digital Media and Communication, Technological Education Institute of Western Macedonia, Kastoria Campus, Fourka Area, GR52100, Kastoria, Greece

    Georgios Lappas, Amalia Triantafillidou, Alexandros Kleftodimos & Olga Vasileiadou

  2. Department of Business Administration, Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, Petrou Ralli & Thivon 250, GR12244, Aigaleo, Greece

    Prodromos Yannas

  3. Department. of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Westminster, Watford Road, Northwick Park Harroe, MIDDX, HA1 3TP, UK

    Anastasia Kavada

Authors
  1. Georgios Lappas
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  2. Amalia Triantafillidou
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  3. Prodromos Yannas
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  4. Anastasia Kavada
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  5. Alexandros Kleftodimos
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  6. Olga Vasileiadou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Georgios Lappas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

    Leon Wang

  2. Matsuyama University, Matsuyama, Japan

    Shiro Uesugi

  3. National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

    I-Hsien Ting

  4. Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Koji Okuhara

  5. National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

    Kai Wang

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Lappas, G., Triantafillidou, A., Yannas, P., Kavada, A., Kleftodimos, A., Vasileiadou, O. (2015). The Role of Facebook in the 2014 Greek Municipal Elections. In: Wang, L., Uesugi, S., Ting, IH., Okuhara, K., Wang, K. (eds) Multidisciplinary Social Networks Research. MISNC 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 540. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48319-0_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48319-0_36

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-48318-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-48319-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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