Twitter as an instrument of participation and deliberation. An approach to its use from the perspective of cyber-democracy. The Rafael Correa case

This article analyzes the use of social networks inthe field of political communication as spaces topromote citizen participation and democratic deliberation,which we call “cyber-democracy.” Thestudy is based on the description of this conceptand its application in the analysis of the Twitteraccount of the former Ecuadorian president RafaelCorrea (@MashiRafael) to determine its informative,deliberative and participatory potential.It is concluded that in spite of being one of theaccounts with the greatest interaction at the regionallevel, its use maintained limitations in thepromotion of participation and deliberation, keyelements of “cyber-democracy”.Este artículo analiza el uso de las redes socialesen el campo de la comunicación políticacomo espacios para fomentar la participaciónciudadana y deliberación democrática, a lo quellamamos “ciberdemocracia”. El estudio partede la descripción de este concepto para luegoaplicarlo en el análisis de la cuenta de Twitterdel expresidente ecuatoriano Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) a fin de determinar su potencialinformativo, deliberativo y participativo. Se concluyeque, a pesar de ser una de las cuentascon mayor interactuación a nivel regional, suuso mantuvo limitaciones en el fomento de laparticipación y deliberación, elementos clavede la “ciberdemocracia.