Netherlands

#157: Political Targeting, Strategic Communication, and Democracy, with Prof. Sanne Kruikemeier

Prof. Sanne Kruikemeier, Professor of Digital Media and Society at Wageningen University & Research, discusses her latest research on political targeting. We discuss how political targeting differs in EU and US contexts, how perceptions of targeting affect voters’ democratic perceptions, and what types of issues parties strategically communicate during election campaigns.

 

Here are the studies discussed in the episode:

 

Data-driven campaigning and democratic disruption: Evidence from six advanced democracies (2022)

Understanding the democratic role of perceived online political micro-targeting (2022)

(Tar)getting you: The use of online political targeted messages on Facebook (2022)

#42: WhatsApp-ening in the Netherlands? Social media, GroenLinks, and the 2018 Dutch Local Elections, with Hanneke Bruinsma

Hanneke Bruinsma, local politician for the green party GroenLinks in the Netherlands, joins the show to discuss how her party is using social media in the upcoming Dutch municipal elections. We discuss how GroenLinks party members in the Overbetuwe municipality are using Facebook and Twitter to campaign, and in particular we focus on WhatsApp as a new medium to encourage activism – or “Apptivism” – among local residents.

#14: The 2017 Dutch Elections and Political Campaigning on Social Media in the Netherlands, with Dr. Kristof Jacobs

Dr. Kristof Jacobs, Assistant Professor at Radboud University, joins the podcast ahead of the upcoming Dutch national elections to share his research on how political parties and strategists in the Netherlands use social media to campaign. We discuss the major role that Twitter plays in Dutch politics but also how parties are adopting newer social media platforms, like Instagram and Snapchat. We also talk about the difference between individual politicians’ social media use versus party communication more broadly. Dr. Jacobs outlines the major themes of this election, the Dutch attitudes towards fake news, Geert Wilder’s social media use, and the media’s coverage of the campaign.

You read more about his Kristof’s research in the book “Social Media, Parties, and Politics Inequalities.