Coperta_revista_comunicare_25.qxd 03.05.2012 16:40 Page 1 The presidential candidates on Twitter during the 2009 Romanian elections Romanian Journal of Communication Journalism in the Age of Digital Technology and Public Relations Pics or It Didn’t Happen: Analyzing Facebook Photographs of Romanian Women Politicians Revista românã de Comunicare ºi Relaþii Publice Vol. 14, no. 1 (25) / 2012 Volume 14, no. 1 (25) / 2012 Political Communication in the Digital Era The presidential candidates on Twitter during the 2009 Romanian elections Journalism in the Age of Digital Technology N.S.P.A.S. College of Communication Pics or It Didn’t Happen: Analyzing Facebook ISSN 1454-8100 and Public Relations Photographs of Romanian Women Politicians Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 1 ROMANIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS Volumul 14, nr. 1 (25) / 2012 NSPSPA College of Communication and Public Relations Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 2 Scientific Committee • Delia BALABAN (Babeº-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania) • Alina BÂRGÃOANU (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) • Camelia BECIU (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) • Lee B. BECKER (University of Georgia, US) • Felix BEHLING (University of Essex, UK) • Hanoch BEN-YAMI (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary) • Diana CISMARU (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) • Nicoleta CORBU (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) • Alina HALILIUC (Denison University, US) • Dragos ILIESCU (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania; TestCentral) • Adrian LESENCIUC (Academia Fortelor Aeriene "Henri Coanda", Brasov, Romania) • Mira MOSHE (Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel) • Sorin NASTASIA (Southern Illinois University, US) • Nicolas PELISSIER (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France) • Dana POPESCU-JORDY (University of Lyon 2, France) • Remus PRICOPIE (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) • Anca VELICU (Institute of Sociology, Romanian Academy) • Tudor VLAD (University of Georgia, US) • David WEBERMAN (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary) • Alexandra ZBUCHEA (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) Editorial Board Paul Dobrescu (editor in chief) Elena Negrea (editor) Cristian Lupeanu (layout) Editor College of Communication and Public Relations – NSPSPA 6 Povernei St., Sector 1, Bucharest Tel.: 201 318 0889; Fax: 021 318 0882 [email protected]; www.journalofcommunication.ro; www.comunicare.ro The Journal is published three times a year. The journal has been indexed by ProQuest CSA (www.csa.com), EBSCO Publishing, CEEOL and Index Copernicus. This journal is recognized by CNCSIS and included in the B+ category (www.cncsis.ro). The translation in Romanian of the titles of the articles was made by the publisher. ISSN 1454-8100 Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 3 Contents Political Communication in the Digital Era Rodica SAVULESCU, Alexandra VITELAR Pics or It Didn’t Happen: Analyzing Facebook Photographs of Romanian Women Politicians /7 Antonio MOMOC The presidential candidates on Twitter during the 2009 Romanian elections /21 Ruxandra BOICU Responses to Politically Biased Blog Posts. An Analysis of Comments on a Romanian Journalist’s Blog /39 Essay Vineet KAUL Journalism in the Age of Digital Technology /59 Studies and articles Diana-Maria CISMARU Reputation management in online social networks for governmental actors: opportunities and threats /75 Dan Florin STANESCU Interpersonal perception skills and the effects of gender and gender /91 Book reviews Aurora IORGOVEANU Review of Doing News Framing Analysis: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives, by P. D’Angelo and J. A. Kuypers / 103 Rodica SAVULESCU Review of Politica user friendly. Despre consultanti politici si Facebook în România si Republica Moldova [User Friendly Politics. On Political Consultants and Facebook in Romania and The Republic of Moldova] by Florenta Toader, Catalina Grigorasi, Sofia Frunza / 107 Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 4 Sumar Comunicarea politicã în era digitalã Rodica SÃVULESCU, Alexandra VIÞELAR Construirea brand-ului personal în reþele sociale. Analiza fotografiilor de pe Facebook a trei femei din politica româneascã /7 Antonio MOMOC Candidaþii prezidenþiali pe Twitter în campania electoralã din 2009 /21 Ruxandra BOICU Reacþii la postãri partizane. O analizã a comentariilor de pe blogul unui jurnalist român /39 Eseu Vineet KAUL Jurnalismul în epoca tehnologiei digitale /59 Studii ºi articole Diana-Maria CISMARU Managementul reputaþiei în reþelele sociale online pentru actori guvernamentali: oportunitãþi ºi ameninþãri /75 Dan Florin STÃNESCU Efectele genului ºi ale rolului de gen în abilitãþile de percepþie interpersonalã /91 Recenzii Aurora IORGOVEANU Review of Doing News Framing Analysis: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives, by P. D’Angelo and J. A. Kuypers / 103 Rodica SÃVULESCU Review of Politica user friendly. Despre consultanti politici si Facebook în România si Republica Moldova [User Friendly Politics. On Political Consultants and Facebook in Romania and The Republic of Moldova] by Florenta Toader, Catalina Grigorasi, Sofia Frunza / 107 Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 5 Political communication in the Digital Era Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 6 Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 7 Rodica SÃVULESCU* Alexandra VIÞELAR** Pics or It Didn’t Happen***: Analyzing Facebook Photographs of Romanian Women Politicians Abstract: In today’s communication reality, social media gain greater importance in all types of market- ing purposes. Following this line of thought, political branding could benefit from the rise of social networks that promote more authenticity in relationships, due to their unmediated quality. Therefore, we explore the possibility of a more personable display of information through photographs on the Facebook pages of three Romanian women politicians – Elena Udrea, Alina Gorghiu and Oana Niculescu-Mizil. Preliminary findings indicate that politicians mostly use Facebook photographs to focus mainly on their official position and pro- fessional activities, not on personal angles of their lives, thus not making a clear distinction between the op- portunities offered by traditional media versus social media, particularly Facebook. Keywords: social media; Facebook political branding; Facebook photographs; Romanian women politicians. 1. Introduction Nowadays, Facebook enabled communication gains greater importance in image build- ing efforts of private and public persons alike. However, it is interesting to see if these dis- tinct categories use social networking in the same way to reach their objectives or if they employ different communication strategies. This paper analyzes the way in which Facebook is used by three Romanian women politi- cians, namely Elena Udrea, Alina Gorghiu and Oana Niculescu-Mizil, belonging to PDL (De- mocratic Liberal Party), PNL (National Liberal Party) and PSD (Social Democratic Party), the three main Romanian political parties. We intend to focus on their use of Facebook pho- tographs, as the visual elements of online identity-building are less researched, although cru- cial in establishing a certain identity. Firstly, we discuss the changes that new media brought in the field of communication and how they influence the process of political brand building. In addition, we also focus on the use of Facebook photographs as image vectors in supporting online personal branding ef- forts. Our aim is to establish the level of development reached in this field up to this moment and to select best practices in building a political brand online. * PhD candidate, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania, [email protected] ** PhD candidate, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania, [email protected] *** Popular phrase used in response to a person who has made an unbelievable or outlandish claim, com- mon on many forums around the Internet. Revista_comunicare_25.qxd 5/3/2012 12:54 PM Page 8 8 Revista românã de comunicare ºi relaþii publice We then examine the collected data regarding Facebook photographs of the three Roman- ian party members. For this purpose, we illustrate the way these politicians use visual cues as part of their online political branding strategy and show the similarities and differences be- tween them as they surface from our analysis. Specifically, we are interested in investigating if they use Facebook photographs in order to support their offline professional activities or rather to uncover more of their private life. 2. The rise of social networks: gaining access to private information The World Wide Web has suffered many transformations since its inception, and nowa- days we are experiencing a new reality that holds the promise of radical change in commu- nication – the emergence of the Web 2.0. The new reality also triggered the introduction of new syntagms like “web as platform”, “digital democracy”, “knowledge economy”, “open source”, “collaborative web”, “the cult of the amateur” etc. (Shih, 2009; Tapscott, 2009; Wit- tkower, 2010), describing