Does social media enhance party responsiveness? How user engagement shapes parties’ issue attention on Facebook

Representative democracy presents politicians with an information problem: How to find out what voters want? While party elites used rely on their membership or mass surveys, social media enables them learn about voters’ issue priorities in real time and adapt campaign messages accordingly. Yet, we know next nothing how campaigns make use of these new possibilities. To narrow this gap, a unique data set covering every Facebook post by leaders organizations the run-up 2017 Austrian parliamentary election. We test hypothesis that actors are more likely double down issues have previously generated higher levels user engagement. also theorize responsiveness is conditional major/minor status pre-campaign salience. The analysis shows parties’ strategies respond engagement, especially major parties low-salience issues. This represents some first empirical evidence can enhance responsiveness.