Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

that politics is not the topic of choice for a majority of e-citizens. In future research,
however, a comparison of a greater number of both political and non-political discussion
boards would provide further insight into the preferences of internet users.
Even though most of the findings in the study provide little support for the
mobilizing effects of internet politics, a small glimmer of hope was found. In general, a
slim but significant improvement over time was found for most of the aspects studied in
the article. Arguably, the most noteworthy is the 0.87 increase in average number of
debaters between the first and last coding period. Nonetheless, the increase is small and
could possibly be due to a general increase in internet access and usage in Finland, rather
than due to an increase in political use of the internet. Hence, any mobilizing effects of
the internet are seemingly not forthcoming in the foreseeable future and perhaps not
coming at all. Not even prior to the Finnish parliamentary election in 2003 (T2) could any
major changes in the activity on the discussion boards be found. In particular, the average
number of debaters did not soar high despite the electoral context. Hence, the increased
media focus and general interest in off-line politics in election times (Asp, 1986: 108), was
not mirrored on the discussion boards. Seemingly, then, on-line political discussion is
independent of off-line political context. In general, the same citizens only debate more
lively and more intensely during election times.
In conclusion, the major findings of the study can be summarized as follows; in
the specific form studied here, electronic politics has failed to mobilize the masses. The
overall activity on the discussion boards is very low, and on the NCP forum, with a
relatively high level of activity, an average of only five citizens participate in each
discussion thread. The liveliness and intensity of the debates are poor on all but the NCP
forum. Moreover, a greater number of citizens preferred music over politics in the
examination of discussion boards on the web portal jippii.fi. Hence, the Finnish on-line
political debates are few and the existing debates are by no means comparable to ‘townhall’
meetings for the masses, but rather they resemble ‘social clubs’ for the politically
motivated.
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