Political communication on social networking websites

The Internet brings new possibilities to political communication and substantially expands traditional communication borders. Social networking websites, getting more and more popular every day, hold a prominent place in the lives of a large number of people. That is why politicians and parties are trying to use these websites as an additional tool of political communication. This article is dedicated to the analysis of possibilities of the use of social networking websites for political communication. It discusses detailed operation principles and categories of social networks, defines the reasons of their popularity and shortly presents social networking websites with the largest number of users in Lithuania and worldwide. The article explores in detail new possibilities for a spread of political information, speaks about the new ways of segmentation and personalization of political communication, created by virtual social networks. A research of Lithuanian politicians' communication using social networking sites is also presented. The research shows how politicians use social networking websites for election and continuous political communication