Digitalizing Youth Politics

Understanding digital communication as potentially enhancing democratic processes, keeping in mind the digital divides in representation of political content as well as that online politics are not detached from the ‘material world’, our project seeks to analyse the online political participation of first-time voters during municipal elections in Lower Austria 2020. Our project is particularly interested in the question how social media communication is interlinked with offline media and citizen participation and what potential it bears to widen the public democratic sphere by young citizens. This research interest is operationalized in three empirical research areas: - Digital lifeworlds and political participation of first-time voters - Online communication of political party actors - Communication of local mass media We will analyse and compare the three areas with regard to their topics, frames (meaning making) and language styles. This will allow for conclusions on how online communication enhances participation in democratic processes, especially of young citizens, and which chances and obstacles it poses for widening the public sphere.