Social Networks and its Relation with the Function of the Political Communicator

Abstract

This article has as its main goal making evident the importance that social networks have in the current political scenario as a fundamental communicative tools for the work of the political communicator, whom is responsible for designing and developing a full political communication strategy, i.e., as complementary instruments to the traditional media associated with its context and profession. For that, the research employs a mixed, descriptive, and exploratory methodology based in the observation, polling and non-structured interview techniques for displaying the crucial relation existing between social networks and political communication. In this context, social networks are a strategic communication media and are part of the success of a political campaign. For making evident this relation, the research employed three stages: 1) documents exploration and citizen behaviors surrounding the use of social networks as a political mechanism; 2) analysis and perception by experts in the field; and 3) correlation of the exploration and previous analysis for the generation of results and conclusions. The above proves the existence of a great interest in this new electoral contest associated with virtuality, which has to be considered and analyzed for understanding the course taken by this important process of social participation, as well as how to take advantage of it to reach the present political success. In this sense, the research concludes that social networks today are a transcendental communication media, which has to be articulated alongside the usual ways of performing politics while bearing in mind necessarily this new reality.