Return on interactivity? The characteristics and effectiveness of Web sites during the 2010 Dutch local elections

This article examines the use of interactive features (i.e., discussion and participation features) on the Web sites of Dutch political parties during the 2010 local elections campaign and investigates whether a relationship exists between interactivity and election results. A manual content analysis of 2,135 party Web sites demonstrates that Web sites from national parties that compete in local elections are more interactive than those of independent local parties. Furthermore, for elections in larger municipalities, the parties’ Web sites use more interactivity. Most interesting, a positive association between interactivity and election results is established when controlling for previous elections and national trends.