IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2018 - 35

Facebook - Founded in February 2004, Facebook is
a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with others. It is a social networking site that facilitates interaction among like-minded people by sharing
information through the digital mapping of real-world
social connections. Not only it is the most popular social
networking site, Facebook is one of the world's most trafficked Web sites with 1.7 billion active monthly users [21].
Facebook users can express themselves politically in various ways, such as by making online donations, encouraging their friends to vote, and posting graphics or status
updates expressing political attitudes and opinions [8].
Facebook is one of the modern communication channels
that have been used by many politicians to spread their
ideas, influence opinions, and get voters to vote for them
in elections. Essentially, Facebook is doing the old jobs
of the campaigns, only smarter and faster [3].
Twitter - The phenomenon of online social network
microblogging has become widespread over the last few
years. The most popular microblogging tool is Twitter,
which is a real-time information network that connects
users to the latest stories, ideas, opinions, and news
about what they find interesting. Twitter focuses on
small events happening in users' daily lives and work
activities, thus enabling them to share updates with
friends, family, and co-workers [1]. It was launched in
2006 and it now has approximately 695 million registers users [21]. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of
information called Tweets. Each Tweet is up to 140
characters long. Users can see photos, videos, and conversations directly in Tweets to get the whole story at a
tweet, and all in one place.

Online Group Membership
The greatest benefit that Facebook has provided to
political candidates thus far is the means to mobilize
and organize thousands of supporters [10]. Membership
in a group provides necessary motivation and incentive
to be politically informed. Facebook introduced the
"groups" application in September 2004 as one of its
basic features. Feezell et al. [24] noted that the application allows users to share common interests with each
other by providing a common space where users can
meet others interested in a particular topic, spread
information about that topic, and have public discussions relevant to that topic. With the "Message All Members" feature, group administrators can reach out to
entire membership rolls at any time. They can send out
messages to members regarding meetings or campaign
events, creating an actual contact list of voluntary
supporters, a powerful means to organizing largescale political and social movements [19]. Members can
also invite friends to join a group or forward messages
from campaigns.
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In many ways, the ability for civic participation through
Facebook can be attributed to the consolidation of information gathering and transmittance, the wealth of
information that is easily accessible, and the flexibility
users have in when information is accessed. In addition,
online groups allow members to express their opinions
through posts and to engage on many levels with the
group discussion and information sharing [24]. The
group application was one of the earliest and still
remains one of the most pivotal features contributing to
the interactive nature of Facebook.

Facebook facilitates targeting of
advertising and marketing through
political segmentation.
Social Media and Citizens
On the other hand, there are several demand-driven factors that explain the increasing use of Facebook by citizens for political reasons. Facebook enables citizens to
engage in meaningful political dialogue with candidates. It also gives amateur activists an easy way to connect with other citizens around the globe and helps
them push their collective concerns to the top of political agendas [2]. Facebook's lack of geographic boundaries makes it easy for like-minded individuals to form
large-scale communities, while technological advancements make it possible for nontechnical people to take
a larger role in organizing and running such communities [14]. Users can join political groups, download candidate applications, and share their political opinions
through the many communication tools on the site. Furthermore, users can view their friends' activities and
comment on friends' posts, thus engaging in active conversation about political issues. Also, Facebook offers
to its users opportunities to develop civic engagement
skills with little to no additional time costs while simultaneously having access to a potentially large enough
public to develop civic skills. Finally, Facebook enables
its users to express themselves politically in various
ways such as by making online donations, encouraging
their friends to vote, and posting graphics or status
updates expressing political attitudes and opinions [8].

Political Marketing and Advertising
Political marketing is about political parties adopting
marketing principles, concepts, techniques, and strategies to achieve their goals and objectives. According to
[11], all political parties can apply the technologies or

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