| 
 
            Politică și societate  
                        
            			Social Media and Political Communication 
						Case Study – The Parliamentary 
						Parties In Romania 
						
			  
						TĂNASE TASENŢE 
						[„Andrei Şaguna” 
						University of Constanţa] 
                        
						NICOLETA CIACU 
						[„Constantin Brâncoveanu” 
						University of Brăila] 
                        
							Abstract: 
							The study aims to examine the extent to which 
							parliamentary parties from Romania are using Social 
							Media to promote their image and political messages, 
							but also the level of participation of supporters in 
							social networks. More than that, another objective 
							of this paper aims to identify similarities between 
							the hypothetical percentages of supporters of 
							political parties in Social Media, electoral 
							percentages of accessing the Romanian Parliament and 
							the current political configuration of the Romanian 
							Parliament. The research focused on comparative 
							analysis of the “de facto” representation of the 
							parliamentary parties in the romanian community and 
							the degree of representation in social networks. The 
							Research method used is quantitative analysis of the 
							online documents and working tool used is the 
							traffic analysis and the degree of the participation 
							in social networks. 
							
							
							Keywords: 
							
							online political communication; Social media 
							analysis; political parties from Romania; Facebook; 
							Blogs  
						 
   
1. Introduction  
  The new Media caused major changes in the political 
communication. They have become a resource often used by the political actors in 
order to strengthen their „capital of visibility”. All the new media resources – 
among which we can mention the websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter of the 
politicians and / or the political parties, allow „the affirmation of a 
discursive identity of politicians, contributing to the customizing 
of the political discourse (the politician presents his political platform in 
the context of interaction with his voter-user)” 
1.
  
  This analysis aims to identify how the parliamentary parties in Romania 
managed to mobilize their voters by means of the communication mediated by the 
social networks, blogs and videos on Youtube. Another aim of the paper requires 
the identification of any similarities or differences between the percentages of 
the supporters of the political parties in the Social Media, the electoral 
percentages of accessing the Parliament of Romania obtained in the 2008 
parliamentary elections and the political configuration of the Parliament of 
Romania at the end of the parliamentary session. 
 
  2. Functions of the New Media in the Political Communication 
  In the context of the relationship between the political actor, 
mass media and the public / electorate, Camelia Beciu 
2 identifies a number of functions that the Internet / the New Media 
have, as follows: 
  a) The politician broadcasts his „controlled speech” and has the possibility 
of presenting his point of view without being „interrupted” by the journalists, 
by his opponents, by the media format constraints, etc; 
  b) The political opinions and posts broadcast in the traditional media – local 
and national – are replicated online. Thus, the political actor argues the 
visibility of his key messages delivered to a target group; 
  c) Due to the new media, the politicians launch a presumptive political and 
media agenda. Nowadays, it has become of common practice for the journalists to 
give visibility to some statements taken from the blogs or Facebook pages of the 
politicians. It was already created a symbiosis between the traditional media 
and the new media; 
  d) The governors use the new means of mass communication to promote their 
policies and the decisions they take and which give them the image of „good 
governors”; 
  e) The political doctrines, policies and electoral projects are promoted by 
the New Media, in a form other than the one in the traditional political 
communication. There are used publicly available forms – „interactive”, 
„narrative”, „conversational”. 
  f) The visibility of the electoral message – designing an alleged online 
electioneering is part of a candidate’s electoral strategy, and each online 
resource has a specific function for his campaign; 
  g) By means of the Internet, there can be mobilized the voters who are asked 
to advance their opinion and to participate in the discussion on some issues of 
public interest. 
  h) By using the Internet, the political actor interacts apparently more 
„efficiently” with his voters, beyond the institutional and bureaucratic rigors. 
 
    3. Facebook – the Dissemination and the „Socializing” of the 
Political Message 
  The real revolution of the Internet and mass communication 
through the new media was realized at the beginning of the third millennium when 
Web 1.0 has moved to a new phase of its development, namely Web 2.0. This step 
meant, according to Mihai Horia Bădău, the liberation from the „tyranny of 
technology”3. Furthermore, Web 
2.0 was named the „Internet of the users”, developing a new model of mass 
communication, characterized by a high degree of interaction between the 
broadcaster / broadcasters and the online public.
  
  Another essential feature of Web 2.0 is represented by its „accessibility”; 
anyone could participate in sharing information and content, not only the IT 
specialists and web designers, as is the case of Web 1.0.
  
  In another sense, this concept represents „the evolution of the Internet from 
a repository of information and communication technologies (represented by 
sites), which were cumbersome forms of communication, to a symmetrical 
communication space (platform which helps to transfer knowledge and 
conversations, where people can meet and organize easily)” 
4.
  
  Facebook is a part of the Social Media category as well. Thus, the Facebook 
social network has been defined as „a free online social network that allows its 
registered users to create their personal profiles, to upload photos and videos, 
to send messages and to interrelate with their friends, family and colleagues”5. 
The Facebook social network was founded on February 4, 2004 and it currently has 
a number of 906 895 580 registered members, 213 countries (www.socialbakers.com, 
accessed on August 28, 2012). In other words, this site was created from the 
perspective of at least five dimensions, as follows: 
  a) Market – where the members are allowed to post, read and respond to the 
advertising messages; 
  b) Groups – allows the creation of virtual communities based on the common 
interests of the members; 
  c) Events – allows the members to announce an event organized by themselves or 
by others, to invite their friends to this event and to monitor those who accept 
or decline their invitations; 
  d) Pages – allows members to create and promote a public page (a public 
figure, politician, singer, company, etc.) built around an idea; 
  e) Instantaneous communication – allows all the members who are online to 
interact instantly by means of the chat box.
  
  In April 2009, Romania recorded a total of 110,000 users, according to the 
Facebook Demographics: Trends study (authors: Ben Lorica and O’Reilly 
Research), ranking 30th out of 34 in a ranking of the countries in Europe, just 
ahead countries such as Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta and Ukraine. On November 21, 
2010, the number of the Facebook users in Romania reached 1,897,920, given that 
in May 2010, 1,287,500 members were registered.
  
  Of the total population in Romania, 8.64% use Facebook, meaning 24.37% from 
the number of people with access to the Internet. In November 2011, Romania 
ranked 47th in the world ranking of the countries with the most Facebook 
members. Only in September 2010, almost 1.7 million Romanians aged between 13 
and 64 chose to join Facebook, equivalent to 7.4 percent of the population, as 
reveals an analysis prepared by eResearch Corp Company 
6.
  
  At the end of August 2012, Romania ranked 34th in the world, with about 5 
million Facebook profiles (ie – 4963760, according to the data provided by 
www.facebrands.ro) and the penetration rate in the general population is of 22, 
58% and of 63.68% in the population with Internet access.
  
  Of the total active population on Facebook, 30% are between 18-24 years, 30% – 
between 25 and 34 and 15% – between 35 and 44. The gender distribution is 
symmetric, 50% of the users are women and 50% are men (www.socialbakers.com, 
accessed on August 28, 2012). In the last 3 months the age segments that 
registered the largest increases, of approximately 80,000 users, are those 
between 25-34 years old and 35-44 years old respectively. The 45‑54 years old 
category experienced a noticeable increase of about 40,000 users. This shows an 
„aging” of Facebook in Romania, something that will be very important in the 
context of the political communication and the formation of the online 
communities of people who are political issues-oriented.
  
  The political figures most visible in the Social Media, according to the data 
from www.facebrands.ro (accessed on August 28, 2012) are: 
Silviu Prigoană (87,644 fans), Victor Ponta (52,999 fans), Remus Cernea (45,589 
fans), Sorin Oprescu (44,275 fans), Elena Udrea (36,404 fans), Cristian Popescu 
Piedone (35,479 fans) and Crin Antonescu (31,033 fans). Also, in the „political” 
section, www.facebrands.ro records, as well, several Facebook pages which do not 
belong to a politician, but are for political reasons, such as „The Movement of 
the Green” (29,227 fans), „You are mad at Băsescu. Why?” (26,320 fans), „YES! I 
Vote” (11.772 fans) etc. 
  
  In order to build a relevant research, we will need to consider, as well, the 
online voters that we find in this social network. Thus, the total population of 
Romania is of 21,390,000, the number of citizens with voting rights is of 
18,292,4647 (85.5% of the total 
population), the number of the Internet users in Romania is of 8,578,4848 
(40.1 %), the number of the Facebook members is of 4,963,7609 
(57.9% of the Internet users). People who use Facebook and have the right to 
vote represent a rate of about 85% of the total number of users, ie, 4,189,41310 
(84.4% of the total number of the Facebook users). 
 
  ITEM  | 
  TOTAL  | 
  %  | 
  
 
  Total population  | 
  21.390.000  | 
  100%  | 
  
 
  Citizens with voting rights  | 
  18.292.464  | 
  85,5%  | 
  
 
  Internet users (I.U.)  | 
  8.578.484  | 
  40%  | 
  
 
  Total Facebook members (Fb.M.)  | 
  4.963.760  | 
  57,9% from I.U.  | 
  
 
  Facebook members with voting rights  | 
  4.189.413  | 
  84,4% from Fb.M.  | 
  
 
  Fans of Facebook’s political pages  | 
  87.200  | 
  1,76% from Fb.M.  | 
  
 
[Table 1 – Demographic data relevant 
for the research  
of the political communication by means of the Social Media] 
From the perspective of social cohesion, which can be researched 
in the field of political communication, a research conducted by Tasenţe Tănase 
and Nicoleta Ciacu 11 showed 
that, in 2010, the Facebook social network was unable to facilitate interaction 
at the level of large groups but only at the level of individuals, as members of 
larger groups. Beyond this, we can state that Facebook has a significant 
contribution to the social reconfiguration in Romania in terms of the users who 
need to create and promote their image in this online community, to complete 
their group of friends and to interact with new people. With the development of 
the Facebook users database and the growing involvement of the political actors 
and their team of communicators in this type of communication by means of social 
networks, we assume that Facebook will be able to facilitate interaction at the 
level of large groups as well through the online opinion leaders, which will be 
investigated in the next parliamentary elections held on December 9, 2012. 
 
  4. The Political Context in Romania 
4.1. The Parliamentary parties in Romania 
  The Liberal Democratic Party (PD-L) is the heir of the 
Democratic Party (DP). The DP was formed on  March 31, 1993 by fusion, 
merging the National Salvation Front with the Democratic Party, resulting in a 
new legal personality, formalized by the Bucharest Court decision No. 13 of  
May 23, 1993. On April 8, 2004 the NLP-DP Justice and Truth Alliance is recorded 
in the Register of the Political Alliances. On December 15, 2007 delegates of 
the DP and the DLP meet in an Extraordinary National Convention, where the 
absorption of the LDP is announced by the DP, the change of the status, the DP 
changing its name into the Liberal Democratic Party (PD-L.). This party ruled 
from December 22, 2008 until April 27, 2012.
  
  The Social Democratic Party (PSD) is the largest political 
party in Romania, the representative of the social democracy, currently in power 
in the Parliament of Romania. The PSD is the heir of the National Salvation 
Front, the first political party that ruled Romania after the 1989 Revolution. 
On February 6, 2011, the Social Democratic Party formed alongside with the 
National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, the Social Liberal Union as 
an alternative to the PD-L government. Soon, it becomes the strongest current 
political structure and, at the local elections in 2012, won 41.49% of the major 
parliamentary seats and 49.48% of the County Council Chairmen (http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1#t1c0s0a1).
  
  The National Liberal Party (PNL) is one of the main political 
parties in Romania, considered a historic party as well, with a significant role 
in modernizing the country. It was established under that name on May 24, 1875. 
Of the 87 offices of Romania, 30 were led by liberal prime ministers.
  
  The Conservative Party (PC), the former Romanian Humanist 
Party (RHP), is a political party in Romania, representing the conservative 
doctrine of the Parliament of Romania. The Conservative Party was founded in 
1991 after the fall of communism, as the Romanian Humanist Party (RHP). From 
2005 to December 3, 2006, it was part of the ruling coalition. The party took 
the present name on May 7, 2005.
  
  The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) is a 
political organization founded to represent the interests of the Hungarian 
community in Romania. In 2007 the union became a member of the European People’s 
Party.
  
  The National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) is a 
political party in Romania represented in the Parliament of Romania. This party 
claims its political orientation as being left‑centered having a 
social-democratic doctrine. In 2008, the members of the SDP, NLP and CP, as well 
as of other parliamentary fractions represented in the Parliament of Romania, 
came out of their groups, because of their support for the President, Traian 
Băsescu. They formed the parliamentary group of independents. In May 2010, they 
came together and formed the NUPR, which, allied with the D-LP and the DUHR, 
participated in government. 
4.2. The Political configuration of the Parliament of 
Romania after the 2008 election 
 According to 
www.alegeri.tv, a site specialized in analyzing the democratic elections in 
Romania, the parliamentary seats in the 2008 elections were distributed as 
follows: 
 1. The Liberal Democratic Party (PD-L) – 166 mandates from 471 
 2. The Alliance of Social Democratic Party and Conservative Party (PSD-PC) – 
163 mandates from 471 
 3. The National Liberal Party  (PNL) – 93 mandates from 471 
 4. The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) – 31 mandates from 471 
 5. Minority group – 18 mandates from 471 
 
  
Figure 1 – Political configuration after 
the 2008 election 
 
  4.4. The current political configuration of the Parliament of Romania 
  
  According to 
www.cdep.ro and 
www.senat.ro, 
the political configuration of the Parliament of Romania has undergone some 
notable changes compared to the results of the last election in 2008, as 
follows:
  
The Liberal Democratic Party has 140 MPs, compared to 166 in 2008. The PSD, PNL 
and PC parties have formed an alliance called the Social Liberal Union, having 
together 215 MPs. The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania has, at present, 
27 MPs, compared to 31 in 2008 and the Group of the National Minorities has 16 
MPs, compared to 18 in 2008. The major change in the Parliament of Romania was 
created by the migration of the PNL, PD-L and PSD MPs in the group of the 
non-partisan MPs. Subsequently, of the 33 independent MPs, 24 have formed a new 
political party called the National Union for the Progress of Romania. 
   
Figure 2 – The current political 
configuration of the Parliament of Romania 
 
  5. The Research Objectives 
O1: Analyzing the extent to which the 
parliamentary parties in Romania use the Social Media to promote the image and 
the political message of the political party.
  
O2: Identifying the presumptive similarities and differences 
between the percentages of the supporters of the political parties in Social 
Media, the electoral percentages of accessing the Parliament of Romania and the 
current political configuration of the parliamentary system in Romania. 
 
  6. The Research Hypotheses 
H1: The parliamentary parties in Romania due not 
fully exploit the promotion of the image and the political message of the party 
and also the interaction with their voters by means of the Social Media.
  
  H2: Even if the political configuration has changed 
considerably in the Parliament of Romania, the political party supporters on 
Facebook is, in percentage, equal to the electoral situation in the 2008 
parliamentary elections. 
 
  7. The Research Method 
  The research method used to achieve the objectives is 
represented by the quantitative analysis of the documents and the instrument 
used is the analysis of the traffic and of the degree of participation in the 
social networks. The problem studied in this paper was also discussed by a team 
of researchers from Croatia, FYROM and Kosovo, the study being entitled 
„Facebook and Political communication – Macedonian case” 
12, published in International Journal of Computer Science Issues.
  
  The instrument used for achieving O1: In the first instance, 
in order to investigate whether the official websites of the parliamentary 
political parties in Romania use the social networks and blogs to promote the 
image of the party, I viewed the website of each party, for noticing if they 
have on their first page, a link to their Facebook pages, Twitter, YouTube, 
Flickr and other networks, and I also viewed the blogs of the political leaders. 
Thus, the coding was binary, meaning that if on the political party website 
there was not one of these social networks, the code was „0” and if there was, 
the code was „1”.
  
  The instrument used for achieving O2: In order to identify 
the presumptive similarities and differences between the percentages of the 
supporters of the political parties in the Social Media, the electoral 
percentages of accessing the Parliament of Romania and the current political 
configuration, I will use the following resources: 
  –  www.facebrands.ro 
– for grouping, in the „Politics” section the Facebook pages of the 6 political 
parties taken as a research sample and for collecting the total number of fans 
for each party separately; 
  – Facebook – for centralizing and grouping the Facebook communities (groups) 
and the group members of the political parties under study; 
  – The proceedings of the Central Electoral Commission for the 2008 elections 
and 
www.alegeri.tv 
specialized in analyzing the democratic elections in Romania – for calculating 
the percentages of the election, on the basis of which the political parties 
have access to the Parliament of the Romania. We will calculate these 
percentages from the total number of the citizens eligible to vote registered on 
the electoral lists and not from the number of the citizens turnout. 
  –  www.cdep.ro and 
www.senat.ro – for 
collecting and centralizing the data on the current political configuration of 
the Parliament of Romania. 
 
  8. The Data Collection and Analysis 
  Data were obtained as a result of centralizing the information 
and the statistical figures from the official websites of the parliamentary 
political parties in Romania. The entire research was based on the content 
analysis of the online resources used by the political parties under study. 
8.1. Analysis: The parliamentary political parties of 
Romania in social networks 
After reviewing the official sites of the parliamentary parties in Romania, the 
use of the social networks and of the blogs of the political leaders are 
represented as follows: 
 
  Political party  | 
  FB  | 
  Twitter  | 
  Blogs  | 
  Youtube  | 
  Flickr  | 
  Other  | 
  Total  | 
  %  | 
  
 
  PD-L  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  1  | 
  0  | 
  13,3%  | 
  
 
  PSD  | 
  1  | 
  1  | 
  1  | 
  1  | 
  0  | 
  1  | 
  5  | 
  83,33%  | 
  
 
  PNL  | 
  1  | 
  1  | 
  1  | 
  1  | 
  0  | 
  1  | 
  5  | 
  83,33%  | 
  
 
  PC  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  1  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  1  | 
  16,66%  | 
  
 
  UDMR  | 
  1  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  1  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  2  | 
  33,33%  | 
  
 
  UNPR  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0  | 
  0%  | 
  
 
Table no. 1 – The Social Media instruments 
used by  
the parliamentary parties in Romania on their official websites 
The Liberal Democratic Party, according to the 
www.pd.org.ro official website, does not promote the image and the political 
message of the party in any social network, the only online resource used for 
the interaction with its voters being the discussion forum. However, there are 
icons for all the social networks under study, but refer to the main pages of 
the social networks and not to the custom pages of the party.
  
 The Social Democratic Party, according to the www.psd.ro 
official website, promotes the image and the political message of the party in 
all the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, blogs of the political leaders, 
YouTube, Linkedin), less in the Flickr social network. The percentage of the use 
of the Social Media by the Social Democratic Party is of 83.33%.
  
 The National Liberal Party, according to the www.pnl.ro 
official website, promotes the image and the political message of the party in 
all the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, of the blogs political leaders, 
YouTube, Linkedin), less in the Flickr social network. The percentage of the use 
of the Social Media by the Liberal National Party is of 83.33%.
  
 The Conservative Party, according to the www.pc.ro official 
website, promotes the image and the political message of the party only through 
the blogs of the politicians. The percentage of the use of the Social Media by 
the Conservative Party is of 16.66%.
  
 The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, according to 
the www.udmr.ro official website, promotes the image and the political message 
of the party only through Facebook and the blogs of the politicians. The 
percentage of the use of the Social Media by the DUHR is of 33.33%.
  
 The National Union for the Progress of Romania, according to 
the www.unpr.eu official website, does not promote the image and the political 
message of the party in any social network. 
   
Figure 3 – The extent to which the 
political parties use the social networks  for promoting their image and 
their political message 
					  8.2. Analysis of representation in 
					  the Parliament of Romania vs. representation on Facebook 
 					 Of the 171 pages of the „Politics” section on the Social 
					  Media analysis site called www.facebrands.ro, 102 belong 
					  to politicians, supporters and parliamentary parties (the 
					  parliamentary session of 2008-2012), meaning a percentage 
					  of approximately 60%. The remaining 69 Facebook pages 
					  support a political cause or belong to the politicians or 
					  the political parties not represented in the Parliament. 
					  Relating to the Facebook groups supporting the six 
					  political parties, we find that the total number is of 108 
					  discussion groups, summing 85,269 members. The difference 
					  between the discussion groups and the official pages of 
					  Facebook is that, in the case of the groups / communities, 
					  the initiative of debate is taken by the supporters of the 
					  parties who do not impose them a topic for discussion, as 
					  it is in the case of the official Facebook pages where 
					  most of the times, the communication is one-sided. 
 
  Political party  | 
  Groups  | 
  Members  | 
  Pages  | 
  Fans  | 
  % from total Fb  | 
  % 2008 election**  | 
  
 
  PD-L  | 
  22  | 
  16.240  | 
  26  | 
  206545  | 
  4,93%  | 
  12,64%  | 
  
 
  PSD***  | 
  14  | 
  44.069  | 
  26  | 
  174108*  | 
  4,16%  | 
  12,86%  | 
  
 
  PNL  | 
  48  | 
  17.931  | 
  38  | 
  97060*  | 
  2,31%  | 
  7,06%  | 
  
 
  PC***  | 
  6  | 
  1.077  | 
  7  | 
  21460*  | 
  0,51%  | 
  12,86%  | 
  
 
  UDMR  | 
  5  | 
  537  | 
  3  | 
  1136  | 
  0,02%  | 
  2,04%  | 
  
 
  UNPR  | 
  13  | 
  5.415  | 
  2  | 
  36780  | 
  0,87%  | 
  -  | 
  
 
  TOTAL  | 
  108  | 
  85.269  | 
  102  | 
  537089  | 
     | 
  
 
Table no 2 – The Facebook social networks 
of the parliamentary parties 
  * It was taken into account the Facebook page as well, including the number of 
Liberal Social Union fans; 
  ** The percentage was calculated from the total number of citizens eligible to 
vote registered on the electoral lists 
  E.g. the SDP – CP Alliance – / 18,292,464 * 100 = 12.86% 
*** The two parties run into an electoral alliance 
   
Figure 4 – % 2008 parlamentary election vs. 
Facebook fans 
					  The Liberal Democratic Party 
					  has 26 Facebook pages (of politicians or central or local 
					  affiliates), for a total of 206,545 fans. The LDP 
					  obtained, at the parliamentary elections in 2008, a rate 
					  of 12.64% from the total number of citizens eligible to 
					  vote registered on the electoral lists. The percentage of 
					  the fans of the Facebook pages – the supporters of the 
					  political party – is of 4.93% of the total number of the 
					  Facebook users in Romania being over 18 years old. 
					  Relating to the Facebook groups supporting the DLP, we 
					  find that the total number is of 22 discussion groups, 
					  summing 16,240 members. The DLP popularity obtained in the 
					  Social Media correlates with the votes obtained in the 
					  elections, so that we can state that a sufficient number 
					  of them continue their support in the Social Media also.
  
 					 The Social Liberal Union, the political 
					  alliance that was formed during the parliamentary session, 
					  consists of the Social Democratic Party, the National 
					  Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, totaling 
					  together 71 pages, and the cumulative number of fans is of 
					  269,230 (taking into account that the Facebook page of the 
					  Social Liberal Union has 11,669 members and supporters 
					  from all the three political parties). The SDP – CP 
					  Alliance obtained a rate of 12.64% from the total number 
					  of citizens eligible to vote registered on the electoral 
					  lists, and the LNP – 7.06%; therefore the SLU comprise a 
					  percentage of 19.70% from the options in the 2008 
					  elections. The percentage of the fans of the Facebook 
					  pages – the supporters of the political alliance – is of 
					  6.98% of the total number of the Facebook users in Romania 
					  being over 18 years old. Relating to the Facebook groups 
					  supporting the SLU, we find that the total number is of 68 
					  discussion groups, summing 63,077 members. After the 
					  formation of the political alliance, on Facebook there 
					  were created by the supporters of the three parties, pages 
					  and groups for supporting the union that emphasized the 
					  extent to which they participated in the promotion of 
					  their common political message.
  
 					 The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania 
					  has 3 Facebook pages (of politicians or central or local 
					  branches), with a total of 1,136 fans. The DUHR obtained a 
					  rate of 2.04% of votes from the total number of citizens 
					  eligible to vote registered on the electoral lists and the 
					  percentage of the fans of the Facebook pages – the 
					  supporters of the political party – is of 0.02% of the 
					  total number of the Facebook users in Romania being over 
					  18 years old. Relating to the Facebook groups supporting 
					  the DUHR, we find that the total number is of 5 discussion 
					  groups, summing 537 members. This indicates a very low 
					  extent to which the Hungarian communities in Romania 
					  participated in the social networks and the politics of 
					  the Union is realized only by the politicians without the 
					  active online participation of the electorate.
  
 					 The National Union for the Progress of Romania 
					  did not participate in the 2008 parliamentary elections, 
					  but was formed, during the parliamentary session, by the 
					  MPs who left other parliamentary parties. The percentage 
					  of the fans of the Facebook pages – the supporters of the 
					  political party – is of 0.87% from the total number of the 
					  Facebook users in Romania being over 18 years old. 
					  Relating to the Facebook groups supporting the NUPR, we 
					  find that the total number is of 13 discussion groups, 
					  summing 5,415 members. These percentages emphasize that 
					  the NUPR is a group that did not receive the popular vote 
					  and does not have the reputation and the reliability of 
					  the other parties in the Parliament of Romania yet. 
					  However, we note that the degree of the online support for 
					  the party is greater than the one of the Conservative 
					  Party and of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in 
					  Romania. 
 
  Political party  | 
  % Groups  | 
  % Members  | 
  % Pages  | 
  %  
   Fans  | 
  Avarage  | 
  Mandates  | 
  % polit. Config.  | 
  
 
  PD-L  | 
  20,37%  | 
  19,04%  | 
  25,5%  | 
  38,5%  | 
  25,85%  | 
  166  | 
  32,96%  | 
  
 
  PSD*  | 
  12,99%  | 
  51,68%  | 
  25,5%  | 
  32,5%  | 
  30,67%  | 
  163  | 
  33,62%  | 
  
 
  PNL  | 
  44,44%  | 
  21,03%  | 
  37 %  | 
  18%  | 
  30,12%  | 
  93  | 
  18,65%  | 
  
 
  PC*  | 
  5,55%  | 
  1,26%  | 
  7%  | 
  4%  | 
  4,45%  | 
  -  | 
  -  | 
  
 
  UDMR  | 
  4,62%  | 
  0,63%  | 
  3%  | 
  0,2%  | 
  2,11%  | 
  18  | 
  6,28%  | 
  
 
  UNPR  | 
  12,03%  | 
  6,36%  | 
  2%  | 
  6,8%  | 
  6,80%  | 
  -  | 
  -  | 
  
 
Table no 3 – The participation 
supporters of the political parties on the social networks related to their 
electoral support  
* The two parties ran into an electoral alliance in the 2008 parliamentary 
elections.  
   
Figure 5 – The Facebook Groups of the 
political parties  and their members as percentages 
					  From the chart below we see that the 
					  Liberal Democratic Party has fewer Facebook groups than 
					  the Social Democratic Party and the difference is that the 
					  SDP has groups with much more members than the ones of the 
					  DLP (over 50% of the total number of members of all the 
					  Facebook groups under study). The Liberal National Party 
					  has the most Facebook support groups, almost 45% of the 
					  total number of the groups under study, but we note that 
					  they are groups with few active members. 
From the chart below we see that both the Social Democratic Party 
and the Liberal Democratic Party have an equal number of Facebook support pages, 
but the total number of members is 6 percent higher for the Liberal Democrats. 
The Liberal National Party has the most Facebook pages, but the total number of 
fans is much smaller, 18%, compared to 32.5% respectively 38.5%, as of the other 
two political parties mentioned above. 
   
Figure 6 – The Facebook pages of the 
political parties  and their fans as percentages 
From the chart below we see that, even if the DLP and the SDP – 
CP came into Parliament with a noticeably equal number of parliamentary 
mandates, the participation of the supporters of the Alliance on Facebook is 
about 10 percent higher than the one of the Liberal Democratic Party. Even if 
the Liberal National Party had a rate of about 20% in the 2008 parliamentary 
elections, we find that the participation of the supporters of the political 
party on Facebook is of 30%, with more than 4 percent over the activity of the 
Liberal Democratic Party supporters in the Social Media. The DUHR has a very low 
participation of the supporters of the political party in the Social Media – 
only 2%. 
   
Figure 7 – The average Facebook 
participation of the political parties  and the political configuration of 
the Parliament 
 
  9. Conclusions 
  The parliamentary parties in Romania do not use all the social 
networks. There are also political parties, among which we can mention the 
Liberal Democratic Party (the winner of the parliamentary elections in 2008) 
which do not use any social network (only the discussion forum), on their 
official website, in order to promote their image and their political messages 
or for interaction with the supporters of the political party. The same applies 
to the National Union for the Progress of Romania.
  
  Even if the political configuration has changed in the Parliament of Romania, 
in point of the number of parliamentary seats, the configuration remains 
approximately the same in point of percentage, as in 2008, the percentage of the 
political party supporters on Facebook is equal to the electoral situation in 
the 2008 parliamentary elections.
  
  The political parties, which have exploited the benefits of promoting their 
image and political messages by means of the social networks, have enjoyed the 
active participation of their supporters on Facebook. These ones have initiated 
discussion groups and online communities, and have actively supported the 
efforts of the parties. In the case of the Social Democratic Party and the 
National Liberal Party we notice a percentage of participation of the fans in 
the Facebook social network higher than the „score” obtained in the 2008 
parliamentary elections or even higher than the actual percentage of 
representation in the Parliament.
  
  Beyond this, we must take into consideration the fact that regardless of the 
smaller number of supporters on Facebook compared to the number of the real 
voters, the users initiating causes or online discussion groups are very 
influential opinion leaders, not only in the online but in the real world also. 
The political parties must take into account that as long as they manage to keep 
them – the opinion leaders of social networks – close, the degree of influence 
of the political message will increase proportionally with the number of the 
opinion leaders on Facebook. This will „revive” the old communication model 
developed by Paul Lazarsfeld in 1955, called the „two-step flow of 
communication”. This theory showed that the opinion leaders are, in fact, the 
ones who affect the interpretation of the media messages. In other words, the 
media message is not directly interpreted by the public, but mediated through 
interpersonal communication and the contact with the opinion leaders. In fact, 
this is the great „revolution” of the Social Media: the interaction. 
  
REFERENCES 
 BECIU, Camelia, Sociologia comunicării şi a spaţiului public, Editura 
Polirom, Iaşi, 2011. 
 BĂDĂU, Horia Mihai, Tehnici de comunicare în Social Media, Editura 
Polirom, Iaşi, 2011. 
 TASENŢE, Tănase, Ciacu, Nicoleta, Contributiile Social Networks in 
reconfigurarea socialului din Romania, Analele Universitatii „Dunarea de Jos” 
din Galati, Fascicula XX, an V, 2010, nr. 5, ISSN 1842-6492, Editura Galati 
University Press. 
 
http://www.socialbakers.com 
 
http://www.facebrands.ro 
 
http://www.etiquettes.ro/marketing/facebook-hi5-si-twitter-raman-preferatele-romanilor-amatori-de-internet/ 
 
http://www.alegeri.tv/alegeri-parlamentare-uninominale-2008 
http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm 
  
NOTE 
 1 Camelia 
	 Beciu , Sociologia comunicării şi a spaţiului public (Iaşi: 
	 Polirom, 2011), 281.   
 
  2 Camelia Beciu , Sociologia 
	 comunicării şi a spaţiului public (Iaşi: Polirom, 2011), 281-282.
   
 
  3 Horia Mihai Bădău,  Tehnici de 
	 comunicare în Social Media (Iaşi: Polirom, 2011), 25.
   
 
  4 O’Reilly, Tim, O’Relly Media, 2003, 
	 apud. Horia Mihai Bădău,  Tehnici de comunicare în Social Media 
	 (Iaşi: Polirom, 2011), 25.
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  11 Tănase Tasenţe, Nicoleta Ciacu, 
	 „Contributiile Social Networks in reconfigurarea socialului din Romania”, 
	 Analele Universitatii „Dunarea de Jos” din Galati, Fascicula XX, 5 (2010): 
	 185-186. 
   
 
  12 Sali Emruli, Tahir Zejneli, Florin 
	 Agai, „Facebook and political communication – Macedonian case” ,  
	 International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 4(2011): 451-459.
   
 
  
						
						TĂNASE TASENŢE - Asist. univ. 
						drd. Universitatea „Andrei Șaguna” din Constanța. 
						
						NICOLETA CIACU - Asist. univ. drd. 
						Universitatea „Constantin Brîncoveranul” din Brăila. 
  
						
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