The role of a political party website: Lessons learnt from the user perspective

Abstract

Though substantial research efforts have been spent on understanding the role of political party websites, there is a lack of in-depth knowledge concerning how such webpages are experienced by their users. In this paper, we present an interview study addressing users’ experiences of political party websites. Eleven users of a political party website were interviewed to explore their experiences with this website in terms of its features for information, engagement, mobilization, and interaction. The study contributes new understanding of how different features of political party websites affect users' experiences. In particular, our findings shed light on the importance of high-quality informational content in political party websites for user engagement, and the role of features for interaction and dialogue relative to features for information. On the basis of our findings we offer lessons learnt relevant to the design and management of political party websites and suggest future research.