Viral political communication and readability: an analysis of an Italian political blog

Abstract

The Internet is widely used by political parties to report events and to send messages to the voting population. Politicians used digital media (websites, blogs, bulletin boards/lists, and chat/instant messaging) in recent elections, together with traditional media (television, newspapers, rallies, etc.). Political blogs represent not only an additional communication channel but also an instrument for spreading editorial content and messages, virally infecting more traditional media channels. A key task for any political party or politician is to make the blog understandable and easy to read as a first step to ignite and spread the right viral effect. To reach this goal, writers must consider both their content and their target audience. This article measures the readability of the text of a political blog to provide insight on the effectiveness of viral communication using blogs. The Beppegrillo.it blog was analyzed from January 2005 to May 2012 and is a unique example of a political blog using a single official media. This blog switched in the period of the study from being a personal blog to a political blog. The posts were divided into two different phases: the former were intended to discuss political topics and were written by a not-yet-political contributor; the latter were posts written by an active politician. Content analysis using simple word and sentence counts for every year of posts was undertaken, along with a readability analysis using the Microsoft Word Spelling and Grammar function, and both the Gunning Fog Index and the Gulpease Index. The two different phases were compared to determine if any change occurred in readability, complexity of the text, and volume of communication. In this way, we can explore the differences in the communication techniques used in the political field unofficially and then officially. Finally, our findings indicate that levels of readability of communications, particularly among broad-based audiences, may be deteriorating significantly when the blog becomes a political one and the communication becomes more institutional.

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“…However, this is hardly unexpected of a party that is traditionally elitist (Morrison, 2004). However, since there is some advantage to be gained by using simple language in political communication, the NPP party could benefit from making the language of their manifesto less institutional (Bigi, 2013).…”

“…Among the variety of online formats available are blogs. Bigi (2013) studied the readability of articles on a blog that had been converted from a personal one discussing political content to a political blog written by a politician. The articles were from January 2005 to May 2012.…”

“…The articles were from January 2005 to May 2012. Using the Microsoft spelling and grammar function, the Gunning Fog Index, and Gulpease Index, Bigi (2013) concluded that readability of communications tended to deteriorate when the blog became political and more institutional. This finding is interesting and suggests that genre of a sampled text would have some influence on its readability.…”

mediating role of viral communication in the effect of political marketing on political consent: a cross-sectional study

“…Richey (2008) found in his study based on the American National Election Survey data collected in 2000 that social networks of people affect voter behavior. Wattal et al, (2010) In their work on the results of the presidential elections held in the USA in 2008, concluded that Web 2.0 internet-based technologies such as Youtube and MySpace have become an important tool for political candidates in persuading voters (Bigi, 2013).…”

The use of blogs as social media tools of political communication: citizen journalism and public opinion 2.0

“…Despite the fact that blogs have taken on the role of the new media regarding politics (Savigny & temple, 2010;Donovan, 2012), attracting readers is proving a truly arduous task for a great number of webpages due to the competition which exists to rank highest on Internet search engine lists, and to this end even offering readers unique, interesting content (Drezner & Farrell, 2004) often proves insufficient. Normally, time, consistency and quality of content (Bigi, 2013), control of the message's emotional characteristics (Kim et al, 2015), the social propagation of these messages (to social networks or other similar platforms) and audience interactivity to acquire visibility and relevance regarding the object of interest are all required. Only a reduced number of elite blogs are in a position to become political e-fluentials (Burson Marsteller, 2000;Gill, 2004) and thus condition one issue's greater relevance over another's.…”