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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">109</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:3dc5f44e-8666-58db-bc76-a455210e8891</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">jucs</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">0948-695X</issn>
      <issn pub-type="epub">0948-6968</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Journal of Universal Computer Science</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3217/jucs-022-03-0375</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">23053</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Research Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>H.3.5 - Online Information Services</subject>
          <subject>J.1 - ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING</subject>
          <subject>J.4 - SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES</subject>
          <subject>K.4.1 - Public Policy Issues</subject>
          <subject>K.4.2 - Social Issues</subject>
          <subject>K.4.3 - Organizational Impacts</subject>
          <subject>L.6.1 - Virtual Community</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Social Media Battles: their Impact during the 2014 Greek Municipal Elections</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Lappas</surname>
            <given-names>Georgios</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">lappas@kastoria.teikoz.gr</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Triantafillidou</surname>
            <given-names>Amalia</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Yannas</surname>
            <given-names>Prodromos</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Kavada</surname>
            <given-names>Anastasia</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A3">3</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Kleftodimos</surname>
            <given-names>Alexandros</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Vasileiadou</surname>
            <given-names>Olga</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Technological Education Institute of Western Macedonia, Kastoria, Greece</addr-line>
        <institution>Technological Education Institute of Western Macedonia</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Kastoria</addr-line>
        <country>Greece</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A2">
        <label>2</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, Aigaleoa, Greece</addr-line>
        <institution>Piraeus University of Applied Sciences</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Aigaleoa</addr-line>
        <country>Greece</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A3">
        <label>3</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom</addr-line>
        <institution>University of Westminster</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">London</addr-line>
        <country>United Kingdom</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Georgios Lappas (<email xlink:type="simple">lappas@kastoria.teikoz.gr</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2016</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>01</day>
        <month>03</month>
        <year>2016</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>22</volume>
      <issue>3</issue>
      <fpage>375</fpage>
      <lpage>393</lpage>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/4E860562-BD39-527D-B1BC-049C3EA10DDD">4E860562-BD39-527D-B1BC-049C3EA10DDD</uri>
      <uri content-type="zenodo_dep_id" xlink:href="https://zenodo.org/record/5504941">5504941</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>16</day>
          <month>10</month>
          <year>2015</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>23</day>
          <month>01</month>
          <year>2016</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Georgios Lappas, Amalia Triantafillidou, Prodromos Yannas, Anastasia Kavada, Alexandros Kleftodimos, Olga Vasileiadou</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>The purpose of this study is to examine the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube by candidates running for the 2014 Greek Municipal Elections by addressing the following questions: (1) which factors affect social media adoption by municipal candidates?, and (2) whether social media usage along with the popularity of candidates' social media pages influence candidates' vote share. Results indicate that social media are not very popular campaigning tools among municipal candidates in Greece. This implies that Greek candidates still rely on traditional ways to lure their voters. Furthermore, findings reveal that candidates running in large municipalities are more likely to utilize social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) as means of political marketing. In addition, challengers seem to prefer Facebook and Twitter as campaign tools while males tend to focus on YouTube to attract voters. Despite the low adoption rate, results suggest that candidates who made use of social media won more votes compared to candidates who were not social media users. Moreover, it was found that a candidate's Facebook page and YouTube channel popularity are good indicators of the candidate's vote share.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
