Gilles Brachotte

Tweets from the Campaign Trail

Hailed by many as a game-changer in political communication, Twitter has made its way into election campaigns all around the world. The European Parliamentary Elections, taking place simultaneously in 28 countries, give us a unique comparative vision of the way the tool is used by candidates in different national contexts. This volume is the fruit of a research project bring-ing together scholars from 6 countries, specialised in communication science, media studies, linguistics and computer science. It seeks to characterise the way Twitter was used during the 2014 European Election campaign, providing insights into communication styles and strategies observed in different languages and outlining methodological solutions for collecting and ana-lysing political tweets in an electoral context.

Leader of my Heart! Use of Twitter by Leaders’ Partners during Election Campaigns

This paper examines the use of Twitter by six companions of political leaders, during the presidential elections in France and in the US (2012) and the UK general elections (2010). The leaders’ companions differ in the way they seek to portray an image of the private lives of their public ‘other halves’. National differences but also divergences in communication strategies can be seen to affect the themes adopted and the degree of intimacy exhibited.