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selection that politics is trying to influence (Brants and van Praag 2006, 31;
Strömbäck 2008, 234-235). The first three periods can be interpreted as how
media gradually replaced party logic. Political behaviour became characterised
by mediatisation, and more actors appeared from outside parties in political
communication.
These processes led to the fourth period of political communication,
which started in the mid-2000s. In this period, the fragmentation of media
accelerated. Ihe different channels available on the Internet create information
overflow, rooted in the information abundance of the third period. The illusion
of making people consume the information that they want is ultimately
created. In this era, the relationship between politicians and journalists
loosens, as political actors can convey their messages directly through social
networking sites (Blumler 2016, 25-26).
In this fourth period, mediums will be the mediators of political messages,
not as institutional actors that shape the news according to editorial
standards, but as platform providers. The importance of the media logic
and mediatisation is questioned in the world of politics. Besides, non¬
political actors’ (celebrities, etc.) communication is blooming as community
sites offer the same opportunities for them. There is an exceptionally vivid
communication environment resulting from mixing political with non¬
political information.
Another consequence is that politicians have to pursue multidimensional
information management. All that we used to know as interpersonal
communication is now a globally spread, incredibly diverse, and time¬
synchronous communication network. Nevertheless, political elites still handle
traditional media as an important channel. In the enhanced competition
for users’ attention, political actors concentrate more on the image of their
messages than on their content (Blumler 2016). The fourth period of political
communication offers politicians the opportunity of directing attention to
themselves. However, there is a need for them to be able to sense the actual
trends, as well as to know the features of key communication channels and
their effects on users and the traditional media.
POLITICIANS AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN EUROPE
The previous subsection gave a general overview of the evolution of political
communication in Europe in the past decades. However, the implications
mentioned regarding the fourth period anticipate that social media is a
more complex phenomenon. Television can convey reality, or how the news
narrates events. We can also see that different technologies mark the borders
within a coherent political project or campaign. All mediums have inner
rules that work to keep the integrity of the contents while the audience can
easily interpret them. The presence of rules can be read from two directions.