How Irish Political Parties are Using Social Networking Sites to Reach Generation Z: an Insight into a New Online Social Network in a Small Democracy

This study, using in-depth interviews and focus groups, examines perceptions of social networking sites as a means of communicating with Generation Z, from the perspectives of the major Irish political parties using these online resources and the perspective of their young target audience. There are two research questions: (1) How do political parties perceive social networking sites’ role in communicating with Generation Z? and (2) How do members of Generation Z perceive social networking sites’ role in communicating with political parties?