Pandering, protesting, engaging. Norwegian party leaders on Facebook during the 2013 ‘Short campaign'

Abstract

While a comparably large amount of research has looked into the uses of Twitter at the hands of politicians, relatively little work has been done how Facebook is being used in this regard. The current paper expands our insights into the uses of social media by politicians by presenting a study of party leaders' uses of Facebook during the 2013 Norwegian election campaign. The paper focuses on two overarching areas: gauging the different themes brought up by the party leaders in their posts and the types of feedback (understood here as likes, comments and shares) that these activities appear to result in. Results indicate that the types of content least provided by the politiciansacknowledging the support of others or criticizing the actions by political peers or media actorsemerge as the most popular in this regard. Results further show that the most common type of feedback is likesa finding that suggesting that a reassessment of the viral qualities of Facebook for purposes like these is necessary.

Political Impression Management Through Direct and Mediated Communication: The 2014/2015 Croatian Presidential Elections

“…Consequently, our study contributes to the body of data that suggest that political candidates see social media as a public relations vehicle through which they are informing their followers of the campaign events (e.g. Larsson, 2015;Momoc, 2013;Ross et al, 2015;Zamora Medina & Zurutuza Munoz, 2014).…”

“…Larsson, 2015;Savulescu & Vitelar, 2012). Consequently, our study contributes to the body of data that suggest that political candidates see social media as a public relations vehicle through which they are informing their followers of the campaign events (e.g.…”

“…89-91). Existing research suggests that politicians rarely do either of these two, since they neither use social networks to inform citizens of their policies, nor communicate personal information which would allow voters to get a better understanding of who they 'really' are (Larsson, 2015;Momoc, 2013;Ross et al, 2015). Rather, studies found that politicians often use social media as a public relations tool for relaying information about the campaign, and in that sense, mirror the 'offline', traditional promotional strategies (see also Vergeer, 2015;Zamora Medina & Zurutuza Munoz, 2014).…”

“…Van Zoonen and Holtz-Bacha (2000, p. 55) stress that 'politicians need to be able to operate smoothly in personal discourse in order to construct themselves as likeable individuals, which is a necessary part of the political persona'. It is believed by many that social media is the place for politicians to disclose their private information and subsequently create personal bonds with voters (Enli &Skogerbø, 2013;Larsson, 2015;Savulescu & Vitelar, 2012). It is observed that 'politicians who provide updates on their private life, interspersed with professional and pertinent content, are seen as using social media most effectively' (Hellweg, 2011, p. 30).…”

“…Despite the potential for the creative and effective use of social media, studies across the world have found that politicians continue to use social media as a public relations tool for communicating promotional campaign material (e.g. Larsson, 2015;Momoc, 2013;Ross, Fountaine, & Comrie 2015;Zamora Medina & Zurutuza Munoz, 2014). Furthermore, if social media is used to communicate information about the candidate, then this is mostly for the purpose of self-promotion as part of the impression management process (Golbeck, Grimes, & Rogers, 2010;Jackson & Lilleker, 2011;Stanyer, 2008).…”