Political e - mobilisation and participation in the election campaigns of Ségolène Royal ( 2007 ) and Barack Obama ( 2008 )

United States (2008) there has been exponential growth in the use of the Internet in candidates' strategies. In general, all the expectations concerning the potential of this new medium in election campaigns have been confirmed and everything suggests that we are immersed in a process of continually discovering new uses on the part of political parties and society at large. The characteristics of the Internet, its speed, its viral and interactive nature and its possibilities for spreading information selectively, etc. make it the ideal instrument for planning the campaigns of political parties and candidates. The possibilities of interaction provided by the new medium correspond with the attitude of some parties and candidates of suggesting and promoting political communication styles that are more direct and ask for the active involvement of citizens. The dissatisfaction with representative democracy and the few opportunities for citizens to become involved in decision-making processes has created an interest in the Internet's potential to positively contribute to a greater political intervention on the part of citizens. This has pushed some parties and candidates to include, in their election campaigns, proposals for participatory democracy. On 20 January 2009, when Barack Obama took over the presidency of the United States, Ségolène Royal, present at the ceremony, declared to journalists: “Yes, I inspired Obama and his team copied us” (Cypel 2009). The former candidate in the MARÍA DOLORES MONTERO Full-time lecturer at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona