Use of ICT, internet and social networks during the external electoral campaign. Case of the 2012 Dominican Republic overseas deputies elections

Abstract

Currently Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Internet and social networks are playing an important role in the field of electoral politics communication. In this article we study its application within electoral campaigns. We intend to know how the use of the digital tools offered to the candidates to overseas deputies of the Dominican Republic who participated in the elections of the year 2012. We use the quantitative methodology through the investigation technique of the survey that we conducted to the communication agents of the postulants. The results show that the passive use of candidates for overseas deputies in terms of advertising investment refers to the digital environment, the two most used social networks in the campaign were Facebook and YouTube, there were candidates who preferred not to use websites or blogs. The social network best valued by the candidacies was Facebook and the worst valued was LinkedIn. In conclusion, we discovered that a large number of candidates did not make strategic use of ICTs, the Internet, and social networks in the electoral campaign.