Momčilo Cebalović
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW PR STRATEGIES ON SOCIAL NETWORKS IN SERBIA
Th e rapid growth of global media channels, information, and public communication instruments provided by the internet, transformed the nature and content of political communication, bringing simple citizens closer to the processes of identifi cation and creation of images about the reality in which they exist. Th e authors use the assumption that due to social networks there is a growing number of actors in our country who become visible in public space by articulating ideas and problems, and that the rigid state apparatus faced with the possibilities of new technologies gradually loses a part of monopoly that was hidden in hierarchically controlled traditional media. Th e research shows how the internet eff ected Copernican changes to the framework of imposed topics and media discourse, so that the majority of political parties and their leaders use the social networks as a political platform to promote their ideas and current responses. Th e results also show how the increase of the number of connections and users increases the impact of political marketing and PR campaigns, and that dynamic, intensive and emotional performances increasingly lead towards politically incorrect speech and confrontation with ideological opponents. New communication strategies aim at gaining publicity and permanent generation of communication power, which means that the political will from state institutions and establishments is partly being relocated into the digital corridors of narrative symbolic support as well.
