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This book chapter is closed access. ; This case study analyzes the use of social media in the campaign for the historically first direct presidential elections in the Czech Republic in January 2013. Following a brief outline of the political context and outcomes of the elections, this study explores and compares the strategies of campaign communication of the nine presidential candidates on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Apart from mapping the dynamics of the campaign and the responsiveness of Facebook and Twitter users, we have used content analysis to examine basic formal characteristics of over one thousand messages posted on Facebook in the course of the campaign by the candidates and their teams. Additionally, this chapter also examines more closely the place of social media in the campaign of Karel Schwarzenberg, the eventual runner-up of the presidential race, whose team distanced all other candidates in both the extent as the level of sophistication of communication carried via the social networking sites. Overall, the presidential elections has revealed both the potential as well as limits of electoral mobilization through social networks, while at the same time it has demonstrated the continuing importance of more traditional means of campaign communication in the Czech Republic.

Political communication has been undergoing a profound transformation in recent years following the appearance and rapid spread of new media. The use of new media, such as social networking sites and other internet platforms, is increasingly being exploited by all types of political actors, but particularly by those involved in electoral campaigns. Attempting to explore the presence of these trends in the Czech Republic, this paper focuses on the Senate and Regional Council electoral campaigns that took place in October 2012 in the Czech Republic, with the primary aim of comparing the differences in new media usage between candidates. A comprehensive analysis was based on a dataset obtained by monitoring the use of various types of new media by candidates, namely traditional websites, blogs, and the online social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The results show that younger candidates in regional elections engage in online campaigning more intensely than older candidates. The findings also demonstrate that Senate candidates use new media more extensively than candidates for the Regional Council. The most commonly used new media in both types of elections were traditional websites and the online social networking site Facebook. Regarding the candidates' political affiliations, the analyses came to the conclusion that the usage of new media was generally similar for all major parties with one exception. The candidates from the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia used new media very sporadically and, moreover, most of them used no new media platforms at all in either type of election campaign. Adapted from the source document.