Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

articles in the thesis. In general, with due caution to specific exceptions, it is not
attributable to the smaller actors deeming the internet less important than other
communication channels, nor having an otherwise more negative general opinion of the
medium, that they lag behind their major counterparts in terms of website content and
sophistication. Their opinions, hopes and strategies for their websites are quite similar to
those of the major actors.
The third article also revealed some significant findings as to how the character of
the Finnish parties was linked to what they did on their websites. The amount of
information provided, the degree of participatory elements offered and the sophistication
of the presentation of the party websites were all tested for linkage to the party-specific
traits mentioned earlier. In general, with some exceptions, the results of the analysis
revealed that among the internal conditions, only party size appeared linked to having
websites with more information, more opportunities for user participation and more
sophisticated presentation. This was indicated by a significant dividing line between
parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties. In terms of internal, party-specific,
conditions, size and resources appear to have an evident influence in shaping what
Finnish political parties do on-line (cf. Nousiainen 1998, 72-73). This provides some
support for the normalization theory (c.f. Margolis & Resnick 2000, 16; Margolis et al.
2003, 57-58).
The thesis’ findings regarding the role of both contextual and actor-specific
conditions in shaping the on-line communication of political actors can now be
summarized. All things considered, this thesis has served to demonstrate that on-line
political activity by political parties, and most likely other political actors as well, is to
some extent, influenced by both external- and internal conditions. These off-line
conditions are relevant both in shaping the specific communication of political parties and
the structures of on-line electoral competition aggregated from this communication. Online
politics does not appear to be an entirely distinct form of political activity: rather,
both the surrounding society and the political actors employing the internet have
important parts in influencing the politics of the internet (cf. Hill & Hughes 1998, 182;
Margolis & Resnick 2000, 14).
2.2. Citizens and the internet
The discussion now turns to the second dimension, the on-line activity of citizens, which
was discussed in this thesis’ theoretical introduction and included in the typology of four
on-line political environments. Regarding this, the mobilization and reinforcement
theories were presented in the introduction to the thesis. The citizens have been the focus
of articles number two and number five in this thesis (Carlson & Strandberg 2005;
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