The internet has been an integral part of election campaigns worldwide for several years now. In the Web 2.0 era, parties present themselves on internet video channels like YouTube, create profiles on social software applications such as Facebook, MySpace, or Flickr, and seek a more intense dialogue with voters. But what lies behind this new internet, and what form of participation is desired? What are the opportunities for a higher degree of democracy, and how significant are the risks that people without internet access will be increasingly marginalized? Can the promise made at the beginning of the internet age for broader political participation through interactive and multimedia applications in Web 2.0 be fulfilled? Two election campaigns from 2007 serve as case studies for Marco Bosch's communication science study on the use of Web 2.0 and social software elements.