La irrupció d'internet en la comunicació política dels partits

This article examines the degree of skill displayed by Spanish and Catalan potitical parties with regard to the use of Internet in their political communication. The study is divided into two main sections which correspond to the two stages in which political advertising adopts different [orms and practices. The first of these is the period of the electoral campaign, in which the instruments of political communication or all patties are most (idly exploited. To illustrate the scope of the new phenomenon known as e-campaigning, several examples are taken from the last electoral cycle in Spain and Catalonia. Then the muele deals with the situation or political parties' communication in the stage which goes beyond the electoral period per se. A comparison is made of some of the tools used by Spanish and Catalan parties in their daily political communication, which leads the author to conclude that much rema ins to be clone in this area.