New opportunities for communicating with voters: A literature review of politicians’ use of social networking sites Lena Kjeldsen PhD Fellow Department of Political Science Aalborg University, Denmark lenakj@dps.aau.dk (First draft, Please do not cite before contacting author) Paper for the 40th anniversary NordMedia conference: Defending democracy. Oslo 811 August Abstract Since 2006 when Facebook opened to a broader public and Twitter was launched, social networking sites (SNS) have been increasingly employed by the public, turning the sites into a clear-cut opportunity for politicians to seek out voters. As the platforms have evolved, so have politicians’ use thereof and with the dealignment that has occurred in most Western countries and the rise of the constant election campaign, politicians seek to use the platforms to attract voters. This paper reviews the research on how politicians use SNS in order to uncover two interrelated issues concerning politicians’ possibilities to take advantage of two inherent affordances of social networking sites in order to appeal to an increasing number of voters: a personalized environment and possibilities for including voters or remaining in control of the production of messages. The review shows a need for explicit definitions and new approaches to studying politicians’ use of SNS. Keywords: Political communication, social networking sites, personalization of politics, interactivity, literature review 1