Online, all the time? A quantitative assessment of the permanent campaign on Facebook

TLDR

Social media, especially Facebook, is widely believed to influence political actors, yet few studies have examined the phenomenon of permanent campaigning—campaign‑like activity by politicians outside election periods. The study explores traces of permanent campaigning on Facebook in Norway and Sweden. The authors analyze Facebook activity data from Norwegian and Swedish political parties and politicians to detect permanent campaigning. The analysis reveals an election effect, with Norwegian parties and politicians showing markedly increased Facebook activity during the parliamentary election period.

Abstract

Many claims have been made regarding the influence of social media like Facebook on activities undertaken by political actors. While the study of online political communication provides several different perspectives, few studies have attempted to uncover tendencies of so-called permanent campaigning in online environments. The term signifies campaign-like activities at the hands of politicians also during non-election periods and has spawned a number of conceptual discussions. This article presents an exploratory effort, studying traces of permanent campaigning in two similar countries—Norway and Sweden. As the former of these countries underwent a parliamentary election during the studied period, the study provides insights into “the election effect”—heightened levels of online activity among the Norwegian parties and politicians that can perhaps best be understood in relation to an ongoing election.