TikTok in political campaigns: a case study of Colombia’s regional elections 2023

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2024.27.2.1

Keywords:

Political campaigns, Colombia, regional elections, social networks, TikTok

Abstract

The use of TikTok in political campaigns has become a global and local trend because it makes it cheaper to finance candidates and allows the exploration of multimedia formats. In this direction, the objective of the article is to analyze the use of this social network in the regional elections of Colombia during 2023, having as hypothesis that independent of the geographical context, it influenced the election of the winning candidates, and with this, it strengthens the theoretical position of the interface laws. The methodology takes as a corpus the number of followers and TikToks made by the two candidates with the highest number of votes in each of the 32 departments and capitals of Colombia. The method integrates two strategies: a descriptive analysis of social networks that evidences the cases in which the winning candidate had more followers or communicative pieces on TikTok; and a canonical correlation analysis that establishes the relationship between the use of the social network and the geographical areas of the country. The discussion suggests that TikTok has become a fundamental tool for political campaigns that transcends territory and that this trend will continue to rise, due to the uniqueness of its algorithm and diversity of offers for user interaction. The article contributes to the literature on electoral campaigns, TikTok interface and influence in territorial contexts. Finally, a research agenda is proposed to deepen the transformations of this phenomenon for pop-political culture and social emotions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aira, T. (2020). La política de las emociones: cómo los sentimientos gobiernan el mundo. Arpa.

Acosta, M. (2022). La pandemia como oportunidad. El jefe de Gobierno de la ciudad de Buenos Aires en TikTok. Astrolabio: Nueva Época, 29, 181-206. https://doi.org/10.55441/1668.7515.n29.31898

Alonso-López, N., Sidorenko-Bautista, P. y Apablaza-Campos, A. (2023). TikTok and active audiences in processes for political and structural change. An exploratory study based on the Scottish referendum. Communication & Society, 36(3), 87-101. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.36.3.87-101

Barrios, G. (2023). Escritura en las redes sociales: de la permisividad en el ciberespacio a la apropiación de la cultura escrita. Folios, 49, 69-96.

Basset, Y. (2023). La segunda vuelta de 2022: un choque de populismos. En Gustavo Petro vs. Rodolfo Hernández: ¿dos populismos encontrados? Universidad del Rosario.

Basch, C., Meleo-Erwin, Z., Fera, J., Jaime, C. y Basch, C. (2021). A global pandemic in the time of viral memes: Covid-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation on TikTok. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 17(8), 2373-2377. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2021.1894896

Battista, D. (2023). For better or for worse: Politics marries pop culture (TikTok and the 2022 Italian elections). Society Register, 7(1), 117-142. https://doi.org/10.14746/sr.2023.7.1.06

Balasundaram, U. (2023). Creative methodologies and new media ecologies. Liturgy, 38(4), 71-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/0458063X.2023.2259763

Benson, S., Meily, M. y Han, W. (2021). What matters most in the responses to political campaign posts on social media: The candidate, message frame, or message format? Computers in Human Behavior, 121, 106800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106800

Boffone, T. (ed.). (2022). TikTok cultures in the United States. Routledge.

Boulianne, S. (2015). Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current research. Information, Communication & Society, 18(5), 524-538. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1008542

Brito, K. y Leitao, P. (2022). Measuring the performances of politicians on social media and the correlation with major Latin American election results. Government Information Quarterly, 39(4), 101745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2022.101745

Campos-Domínguez, E. (2017). Twitter y la comunicación política. Profesional de la Información, 26(5), 785-794. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.sep.01

Candale, C. (2017). Las características de las redes sociales y las posibilidades de expresión abiertas por ellas. La comunicación de los jóvenes españoles en Facebook, Twitter e Instagram. Colindancias, 3, 201-218. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6319192

Casero-Ripollés, A., Feenstra, R. y Tormey, S. (2016). Old and new media logics in an electoral campaign. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 21(3), 378-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161216645340

Castro-Martínez, A. y Díaz-Morilla, P. (2021). La comunicación política de la derecha radical en redes sociales. De Instagram a TikTok y Gab, la estrategia digital de Vox. Dígitos, 1(7), 67. https://doi.org/10.7203/rd.v1i7.210

Cervi, L. (2023). TikTok use in municipal elections: From candidate-majors to influencer-politicians. Más Poder Local, 53, 8-29. https://doi.org/10.56151/maspoderlocal.175

Cervi, L. y Marín-Lladó, C. (2021). What are political parties doing on TikTok? The Spanish case. Profesional de la información, 30(4). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.jul.03

Cervi, L. y Marín-Lladó, C. (2022): Freepalestine on TikTok: From performative activism to (meaningful) playful activism. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 15(4), 414-434. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2022.2131883

Cervi, L., Tejedor, S. y Blesa, F. (2023). TikTok and political communication: The latest frontier of politainment? A case study. Media and Communication, 11(2), 203-217. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i2.6390

Cervi, L., Tejedor, S. y Lladó, C. (2021). TikTok and the new language of political communication. Cultura, Lenguaje y Representación, 26, 267-287. https://doi.org/10.6035/clr.5817

CNE - Consejo Nacional Electoral (2020). Uso de redes sociales con fines electorales sí se considera propaganda política. Comunicaciones Oficiales. https://www.cne.gov.co/prensa/comunicados-oficiales/309-uso-de-redes-sociales-con-fines-electorales-si-se-considera-propaganda-politica

Conde del Río, M. (2021). Estructura mediática de TikTok: estudio de caso de la red social de los más jóvenes. Revista de Ciencias de la Comunicación e Información, 26, 59-77. https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2021.26.e126

Corredoira y Alfonso, L. (2020). European regulatory responses to disinformation. Special attention to election campaigns. Derecom, 29, 133-142.

Corzo, L. y Chanquía, M. (2020). La narrativa transmedia del hashtag #mmlpqtp. Participación y protesta social en Twitter. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

De Barros, M. (2018). Arqueología de los medios. La tecnología desde una temporalidad difusa. Herder.

Echauri, G. (2023). Infinite media: The contemporary infinite paradigm in media. Convergence, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231208135

Ekström, M. y Sveningsson, M. (2019). Young people’s experiences of political membership: From political parties to Facebook groups. Information, Communication and Society, 22(2), 155-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1358294

Espinosa-Oviedo, J., Vargas-Solar, G., Alexandrov, V. y Castel, G. (2016). Comparing electoral campaigns by analysing online data. Procedia Computer Science, 80, 1865-1874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2016.05.480

Gabriel, M. (2016). Why the world does not exist. John Wiley and Sons.

García-Marín, D. y Salvat-Martinrey, G. (2022). Viralizar la verdad. Factores predictivos del engagement en el contenido verificado en TikTok. Profesional de la Información, 31(2): e310210. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.mar.10

Gil de Zúñiga, H., Veenstra, A., Vraga, E. y Shah, D. (2010). Digital democracy: Reimagining pathways to political participation. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7(1), 36-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331680903316742

González, F. (2019). Big data, algoritmos y política: las ciencias sociales en la era de las redes digitales. Cinta de Moebio, 65, 267-280. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0717-554x2019000200267

González, I. (2022). ¿Cómo funciona el algoritmo de TikTok? IEBS, 21 de julio. https://www.iebschool.com/blog/como-funciona-el-algoritmo-de-tiktok-redes-sociales/

González, M. (2022). Análisis de los# DanceChallenge en TikTok mediante la metodología visual crítica. Virtualis, 13(24), 108-136. https://doi.org/10.46530/virtualis.v13i24.399

Gordillo, M. y Bellido-Pérez, E. (2021). Politicians self-representation on Instagram: The professional and the humanized candidate during 2019 spanish elections. Observatorio (OBS*), 15(1), 109-136. https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS15120211692

Gutiérrez-Rubí, A. (2023). Gestionar las emociones políticas. Gedisa.

Herrero, J. (2020). Manual de marketing político. Cómo afrontar una campaña electoral. Almuzara.

HubSpot y Bradwatch (2023). Informe sobre las tendencias en redes sociales a escala global. https://acortar.link/17mhs1

Jiménez, J. (2023). Elecciones regionales en Colombia 2023: ¿la emergencia de un nuevo mapa político en contravía del presidente Gustavo Petro y su proyecto de izquierda? Más Poder Local, 54, 140-145. https://doi.org/10.56151/maspoderlocal.209

Karizat, N., Delmonaco, D., Eslami, M. y Andalibi, N. (2021). Algorithmic folk theories and identity: How TikTok users co-produce knowledge of identity and engage in algorithmic resistance. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(2), 1-44. https://doi.org/10.1145/3476046

Koschut, S. (2022). Emotions and International Relations. International Studies, 20 de abril. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.693

Kühne, R., Schemer, C., Matthes, J. y Wirth, W. (2011). Affective priming in political campaigns: How campaign-induced emotions prime political opinions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 23(4), 485-507. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edr004

Lam, B., Cheung, M. y Lo, W. (2021). What matters most in the responses to political campaign posts on social media: The candidate, message frame, or message format? Computers in Human Behavior, 121, 106800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106800

Lee, J. (2022). A study on the intention and experience of using the metaverse. JAHR, 13(1), 177-192. https://doi.org/10.21860/j.13.1.10

Lin, J.-S. y Himelboim, I. (2019). Political brand communities as social network clusters: Winning and trailing candidates in the GOP 2016 primary elections. Journal of Political Marketing, 18(1-2), 119-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2018.1478661

Loor-Ávila, B. y Baquerizo-Álava, V. (2022). El efecto TikTok: enfoque teórico-metodológico del manejo de la comunicación política en las generaciones del siglo XXI. Digital Publisher CEIT, 7(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.33386/593dp.2022.2-1.939

López-Fernández, V. (2022). Nuevos medios en campaña. El caso de las elecciones autonómicas de Madrid 2021 en TikTok. Universitas, 36, 221-241. https://doi.org/10.17163/uni.n36.2022.09

Lozano, M. (2022). Comunicación política en la red social TikTok: experiencia consultas interpartidistas presidenciales en Colombia 2022. Correspondencias & Análisis, 16, 159-177. https://doi.org/10.24265/cian.2022.n16.07

Marcos-García, S., Alonso-Muñoz, L. y López-Meri, A. (2021). Campañas electorales y Twitter. La difusión de contenidos mediáticos en el entorno digital. Cuadernos.info, 48, 27-49. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.48.27679

Meneses, E. y Carpio, A. (2022). Análisis del discurso de Andrés Araúz en TikTok durante su campaña presidencial 2021. Chakiñan, 18, 134-145. https://doi.org/10.37135/chk.002.18.09

Milenio Digital y DPA (2022). TikTok, la aplicación más descargada de 2021 en el mundo; éste es el top 10. https://www.milenio.com/tecnologia/apps/tiktok-app-descargada-2021-top-10

Moïsi, D. (2009). The Geopolitics of Emotions. Anchor Books.

Parikka, J. (2012). What is media archaeology? John Wiley and Sons.

Perannagari, K. T. y Chakrabarti, S. (2020). Analysis of the literature on political marketing using a bibliometric approach. Journal of Public Affairs, 20(1).https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pa.2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2019

Quiroz, N. (2020). TikTok: La aplicación favorita durante el aislamiento. Revista Argentina de Estudios de Juventud, 14, e044-e44. https://doi.org/10.24215/18524907e044

Rojas, C. y Jaque, M. (2024). Materialismos digitales: más allá del ecosistema de medios. InMediaciones de la Comunicación, 19(1), 27-53. https://doi.org/10.18861/ic.2024.19.1.3570

Sánchez-Vizcaíno, I. (2019). Análisis de la publicidad en las redes sociales. [Tesis de grado en Derecho y en Administración y Dirección de Empresas, Pontificia Universidad de Comillas].

Sasley, B. (2013,). Emotions in International Relations. E-International Relations, 12 de junio. https://www.e-ir.info/2013/06/12/emotions-in-international-relations/#google_vignette

Scammell, M. (1999). Political marketing: Lessons for political science. Political Studies, 47(4), 718-739. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00228

Schellewald, A. (2021). Communicative forms on TikTok: Perspectives from digital ethnography. International Journal of Communication, 15, 21.

Scolari, C. (2021). Las leyes de la interfaz. Gedisa.

Scolari, C. (2022). La guerra de las plataformas. Anagrama.

Slater, K. (2022). LGBTQ digital cultures: A global perspective. Routledge.

Stattner, E. y Collard, M. (2015). Descriptive modeling of social networks. Procedia Computer Science, 52, 226-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.05.505

Subekti, D., Nurmandi, A. y Mutiarin, D. (2022). Mapping publication trend of political parties campaign in social media: A bibliometric analysis. Journal of Political Marketing, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2022.2104424

Vaterlaus, J. y Winter, M. (2021). TikTok: an exploratory study of young adults’ uses and gratifications. The Social Science Journal, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2021.1969882

Vinuesa, P. (2016). Tema 8 - Correlación: teoría y práctica. [Curso Fundamental de Posgrado: Análisis Estadístico en Ciencias Biológicas Utilizando R, semestre 2017-1, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México].

Wang, H., Gao, Q., Li, H., Wang, H., Yan, L. y Liu, G. (2022). A structural evolution-based anomaly detection method for generalized evolving social networks. The Computer Journal, 65(5), 1189-1199. https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/bxaa168

Wang, X. y Guo, Y. (2023). Motivations on TikTok addiction: The moderating role of algorithm awareness on young people. Profesional De La información, 32(4). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.jul.11

Weimann, G. y Masri, N. (2023). Research note: Spreading hate on TikTok. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 46(5), 752-765. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1780027

Webster, S. y Albertson, B. (2022). Emotion and politics: Noncognitive psychological biases in public opinion. Annual Review of Political Science, 25(1), 401-418. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-105353

Wilches, J., Guerrero, H., Niño, C. (2024). Emociones políticas y narrativas prototípicas: TikTok en las campañas presidenciales de Colombia 2022. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 82.

Zamora-Medina, R., Suminas, A. y Fahmy, S. (2023). Securing the youth vote: A comparative analysis of digital persuasion on TikTok among political actors. Media and Communication, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i2.6348

Zeng, J. y Abidin, C. (2021). ‘#OkBoomer, time to meet the Zoomers’: Studying the memefication of intergenerational politics on TikTok. Information, Communication and Society, 24(16), 2459-2481. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1961007

Published

2024-05-14

How to Cite

Wilches Tinjacá, J. A., Guerrero Sierra, H. F., & Niño González, C. (2024). TikTok in political campaigns: a case study of Colombia’s regional elections 2023. Palabra Clave, 27(2), e2721. https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2024.27.2.1

Issue

Section

Articles