Die DA se gebruik van Facebook om politieke deelname te fasiliteer : die 2014–Nasionale Verkiesingsveldtog

Abstract

In developing democracies, such as South Africa, political parties have a responsibility to contribute to sustainable democracy by empowering voters. The point of departure is that empowerment takes place through participatory communication, which is grounded in participation and dialogue. Today political parties do not only make use of traditional mediums to communicate with voters. The internet, specifically via social media, has shown democratic potential for participatory communication that focuses on participation and dialogue. Just like interpersonal communication that consists of different levels of participation and dialogue, the argument is made that there are also different levels of participation and dialogue on Facebook. This resulted in the development of a continuum of participatory communication on Facebook, consisting of 11 levels. Against this background the following research question was investigated: How does the DA use their Facebook page to facilitate participatory communication during the 2014 national election? The researcher used qualitative content analysis to analyse the DA’s Facebook page from 07 February 2014 to 07 May 2014. The analysis focused on the following themes: corruption, job creation and crime. The research findings reveal that participatory communication is facilitated on the DA’s Facebook page, but it can be attributed to the unique elements on Facebook that make participation and dialogue possible. Thus, it is necessary for the DA to perform a more active role to facilitate participation and dialogue via their Facebook page to empower voters, for which purpose the researcher made the necessary recommendations.