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This paper analyzes the use of Twitter by the candidates for the presidency of the Government of Spain of the five main parties at the national level -PSOE, PP, Vox, Podemos and Ciudadanos- of the general elections campaigns held in April and November 2019. The main purpose of our study is to determine the strategies used of the microblogging network by the leaders, both in terms of activity, interaction and notoriety and in terms of topics and discursive development, as well as their similarities and differences. The secondary objective is to study the evolution of these strategies both between the two campaigns and with respect to previous elections. To this end, the research is based on a content analysis methodology that studies quantitative, qualitative and discursive elements. The results reveal an uneven use of Twitter in terms of the frequency of updates, but similar in terms of its unidirectionality, with scarce interaction with other users and a predominance of tweets with their own content over retweets. The dissemination of other people's content was used almost entirely to promote the candidate's political party and, to a lesser extent, to interact with journalists. Dialogue with citizens was almost always residual, both in retweets and in responses. This utilitarian conception of the microblogging network was accompanied by a polarizing thematic selection, with an almost general preponderance of political issues over policy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, the Internet, and the social networks in particular, have gained relevance as spaces for interaction and socialization. The multiplication and penetration of social media, as well as the volume and intensity of interactions, have led to a migration of the public sphere towards these platforms. In this (apparently neutral) virtual context, where social networks contribute to the construction or amplification of social relations, the Internet is configured as a space of inequality where power relations and patriarchal practices are reproduced, amplified by the sensation of anonymity and its disinhibiting effect. This paper analyzes the presence of hate speech and misogyny in the Twitter conversation around 50 Spanish women with public visibility online and in the real world, belonging to diverse professional fields: science, communication, culture, sports, business, and politics. Based on an automated search for insults and other hate terms, a content analysis of the direct interactions and indirect mentions received by these women on this social platform over a period of 1 year was carried out. The results of this study highlight the toxicity of the Twittersphere for female users. Thus, 15% of direct interactions and 10% of indirect interactions directed at these women included some kind of insult or disqualification, although not necessarily of a sexist or misogynist nature. This violence is especially evident against women representatives of those areas with greater visibility and social influence such as communication and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]