1 A winding road from “likes” to votes: the role of social media in the 2013 Czech Presidential Elections Václav Štětka, 1 Alena Macková, 2 Marta Fialová 3 Abstract This case study analyzes the use of social media in the campaign for the historically first direct presidential elections in the Czech Republic in January 2013. Following a brief outline of the political context and outcomes of the elections, this study explores and compares the strategies of campaign communication of the nine presidential candidates on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Apart from mapping the dynamics of the campaign and the responsiveness of Facebook and Twitter users, we have used content analysis to examine basic formal characteristics of over one thousand messages posted on Facebook in the course of the campaign by the candidates and their teams. Additionally, this chapter also examines more closely the place of social media in the campaign of Karel Schwarzenberg, the eventual runner-up of the presidential race, whose team distanced all other candidates in both the extent as the level of sophistication of communication carried via the social networking sites. Overall, the presidential elections has revealed both the potential as well as limits of electoral mobilization through social networks, while at the same time it has demonstrated the continuing importance of more traditional means of campaign communication in the Czech Republic. 1. Introduction 4 The first direct presidential elections in the history of the Czech Republic were held in January 2013. 61 per cent of the electorate took part in the first round, which was nearly the same number as in the 2010 parliamentary elections (62.6 per cent). The direct elections not only broadened the range of acts by which the Czech citizens can influence politics and participate in public life, but they also brought a new challenge for the election campaign communication. The rise in the use of political marketing and the general shift in professionalization of political communication arrived in the Czech Republic a little later than in most Western European countries or in the U.S. A clear landmark in the development of election campaigns was the 2006 parliamentary elections, during which some Czech political parties resorted to PR agencies and began to develop a more long-term strategy in their communication (Matušková 2009). However, the direct presidential elections differed in many respects from parliamentary elections, and these differences were also reflected in the 1 Institute of Communication Studies, Faculty of Social Science, Charles University, Smetanovo náb. 6, 110 01 Praha 1, Czech Republic, email: stetka@fsv.cuni.cz 2 Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Joštova 10, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic 3 Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Joštova 10, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic 4 Research for this chapter was conducted as part of the project VITOVIN (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0184), which is financed by the European Social Fund and the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic.