Reinventing the attack ad: the use of Facebook and YouTube video by political parties during the UK 2015 General Election

During the 2015 UK General Election the main political parties used social media as a main battlefield for the first time. Rather than having to rely purely upon mediated communication with the public via the established routes of political journalism, they were able to engage directly with voters using Facebook and Twitter. This paper will look at the strategies the parties developed to communicate with voters; how freedom from the regulatory environment of broadcasting allowed new forms of communication to evolve; and analyse the comparative success of different forms of messaging.

The paper will consider the impact of budget on digital communication strategies including video production.

The paper will be based upon a quantitative analysis of the political parties social media activity, with a particular emphasis of the role of video communication. It will provide detailed analysis of communication outputs and the reach of digital campaigning during the febrile atmosphere of a general election.