Political Personalization on Social Media: Use of Twitter and Instagram in the 2021 Community of Madrid Election Campaign
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2024.27.2.9Keywords:
Election campaign, political communication, personalization, social mediaAbstract
The phenomenon of political personalization and its relationship with the use of social media in election campaign communication strategies has attracted the interest of many researchers in recent years. This study aims to understand its impact on the 2021 Community of Madrid election campaign through the analysis of content from the Twitter and Instagram profiles of the two most popular parties (Partido Popular—PP and Más Madrid—MM) and their leaders (Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Mónica García). The study also sets out other objectives and six hypotheses, which are tested after analyzing the accounts on these platforms. The study uses three methodological techniques: literature review, content analysis, and in-depth interviews. The results indicate that both Mónica García and Isabel Díaz Ayuso were the main subjects of MM’s and PP’s posts in the two weeks leading up to the regional elections. However, the analysis revealed a limitation in the portrayal of the candidates’ personal lives, as most of the content shared by all the accounts focused on their professional facets.
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