US and NL: incomparable
Boris van der Ham, D66 member of parliament, who is on a 'political sabbatical' after ten years, mentions this important difference between the election campaigns. "In addition to the lack of Big Money in the Netherlands and a different culture, our political systems are incomparable: America has a two-party system, and we elect 150 members of parliament." But, Van der Ham emphasizes, the Dutch are very active on the internet and are therefore easily accessible digitally. "More than 90% of the population is online, not only younger people, but also older people. We use the web for many things; holiday bookings, comparing products, purchases."
Inactive tweeps
Yet social media are not used very actively in the current campaign, which has just started after a long summer recess. The D66 MP, who has been active on Twitter for years, says that our politicians are very active on social media: a large number have a Facebook page and 79% are on Twitter. Some even communicate almost exclusively via Twitter, such as PVV leader Wilders. His account betrays little interaction, but a lot of missionary zeal: 200,000 followers and 0 following.
Political freaks have a combined 1.4 million followers, but that doesn't india telegram data say much, the web politician of D66 (with over 43,000 followers) puts things into perspective. One third of the 5 million accounts in our country are fake and one third is inactive. "The remaining group is very specific and highly educated. They are 'political freaks'." When asked, Van der Ham says he means this affectionately, a specific group that is excessively interested in politics. "And they are often influential people." The number of followers doesn't say much, Van der Ham thinks. He quotes CDA leader Van Haersma Buma, who suddenly has 20,000 followers after being elected party leader, and the Twitter user from The Hague with the most followers is the relatively unknown GroenLinks member Arjan El Fassed (266,600 followers).