Replication Data for: Parliamentary Elections in Brazil: The Use of Twitter in the Search for Votes

Since the use of new technologies in the 2008 US elections, Twitter has become a platform for political activities, creating a channel for interaction between politicians and voters. Political communication with the use of social media is part of today’s congressional activities. In addition, Twitter has become an important means for gaining popularity for election purposes. This article’s research question is to verify how parliamentarians’ behaviors influence the use of Twitter in the search for votes in elections to the National Congress. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyze Brazilian politicians’ different behaviors in this virtual environment before, during and after the parliamentary elections of 2014. Data was collected on the use of Twitter by the parliamentarians four times between December 2013 and April 2015. Politicians were compared according to their electoral aspirations and to the different appropriations of the social network. Data indicate that politicians in electoral campaigns make greater and more frequent use of the new technologies, in the sense of constructing political images within the electoral context. As a result, these politicians got more attention from Twitter users, which is directly related to a higher number of votes obtained in the election process. JEL Classification Codes: L82, L86, D72.自2008年美国大选首次引入新技术以来，推特（Twitter）已成为政治活动的核心平台，搭建起政客与选民之间的互动桥梁。借助社交媒体开展政治传播，已是当前议会活动的重要组成部分。此外，推特已成为竞选造势的重要工具。本文的研究问题为验证议员行为如何影响其在巴西国民议会选举拉票活动中对推特的使用。据此，本文旨在分析2014年议会选举前后及选举期间，巴西政客在该虚拟社交环境中的差异化行为表现。研究数据于2013年12月至2015年4月期间，分四次采集自议员的推特使用情况。研究依据政客的选举诉求及其对该社交平台的不同使用策略开展分组对比。数据结果显示，参与选举竞选的政客会更频繁且更深度地运用此类新技术，即在竞选语境下构建自身政治形象。此类政客也因此获得了推特用户更多的关注，而这与他们在选举过程中获得更高得票数直接相关。JEL分类代码：L82、L86、D72。