Blending social media with parliamentary websites: Just a trend, or a promising approach to e-participation?

Abstract

This chapter discusses how social media use can enhance interaction between citizens and parliaments. The presence of parliamentary institutions in Europe and the Americas in social media is researched and quantitavely assessed. A specific question, on the citizen side, is to what extent social media is used by parliaments for informative purposes only, or for more substantial forms of citizen feedback. The ways in which parliaments can change to use social media for transparency and citizen engagement are therefore investigated. This chapter contributes to the research on using social media to enhance transformation of public bodies and citizen participation for democratic governance.