Summary of results
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Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) recognize that EU citizens go online and that they therefore need a web presence. However, the majority of MEPs do not currently take full advantage of social media tools as a means to engage with voters and drive them to their websites. |
- 75% of MEPs use a personal website extensively.
- 62% of MEPs have either never heard of Twitter or have no plans to use it.
- 24% of MEPs use a blog extensively but only 26% of MEPs who blog comment on other blogs once a week or more.
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MEPs believe that TV remains the most effective way to communicate to voters. A lack familiarity with social media may be leading MEPs to underestimate the effectiveness of the internet as a means of reaching out to their electorate. |
- 80% of MEPs believe websites to be either very effective or effective in communicating to voters, making websites as effective as one-on-one meetings.
- 51% of MEPs believe blogging or micro-blogging to be very effective or effective in communicating to voters compared to 81% for writing a newspaper column.
- 33% of MEPs believe online advertising to be either a very effective or effective way to communicate to voters compared to 57% for TV advertising and 45% for print advertising.
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MEPs are increasingly adopting digital tools for both research and outreach, but information from websites and blogs is currently less important in informing their thinking than information gathered from off-line sources. |
- 48% of MEPs believe personal contact with representatives of groups of voters to be very important or important.
- 42% of MEPs believe coverage in national media to be very important in informing their policy thinking, more than twice the number who stated coverage in online EU specialist media to be very important.
- 32% of MEPs who blog believe blogs to be important or very important in informing their policy thinking, compared with 17% of MEPs who do not blog.
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MEPs use internet resources on a regular basis to understand legislative issues. A variety of online tools are used as part of normal working life for this purpose. |
- 93% of MEPs use search engines daily to understand legislative issues. 54% use Google.com while 41% use national versions of the same search engine.
- 74% of MEPs visit online versions of traditional newspapers on a daily basis, while 38% visit online EU specialist media each day.
- 65% of MEPs visit Wikipedia style tools at least several times each week to understand legislative issues, while 36% visit blogs in the same period.
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 Social Media is...
Social Media means online tools and digital platforms used to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
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The results of our research seek to shed light on how Members of the European Parliament are using the internet as a tool to reach out to voters and as a source of information to inform their legislative work. We hope that this summary of the main results will help provoke debate amongst policymakers and stakeholders about the impact of the internet on Brussels politics and public affairs.
