Political cyberactivism on Twitter : Case study of the first round of the last presidential elections in Ecuador

Social networks have become suitable instruments to generate significant changes in the public sphere of societies, through digital activism or cyberactivism. Twitter, in particular, drastically changed the political environment, allowing the active participation of citizens, politicians and the media in matters of public interest. In this way, a plurality of criteria is established that favors the strengthening of contemporary democracies. Based on this reference, the present investigation focused on the analysis of political cyberactivism in Ecuador, professed on the social network Twitter, during the period December 2020 - February 2021. The implemented methodology contemplated content analysis and virtual semi-structured interviews. The results obtained reflect that political cyberactivism is generated both in a planned way and spontaneously; Its scope can be measured through the impact achieved by the trends, which in turn makes it possible to modify the public agenda and give space to issues of national interest.