Insta-Politicos: Motivations for Following Political Leaders on Instagram

Abstract

Instagram, a mobile photo-sharing application, is quickly growing in political importance. At 400 million active users, Instagram is the second largest social media site, ahead of Twitter and behind Facebook (Alhabash & Ma, 2017). During the 2016 US presidential election, all major party candidates during the primaries and general election actively used Instagram to further their message (Duffy, 2016; Sander, 2015). Internationally, leaders in more than 70% of countries in the United Nations have an Instagram presence (Burson-Marsteller, 2017). Instagram has many features that aid in political advocacy. Instagram messages, called posts, can include photos, short-form video, and text that provide political news. Distinctive filters can be used to change the color balance or contrast on photos to express different feelings. The posts can request Instagram users to take actions, such as voting for candidates. To interact with leaders, users can "tag" a political leader in a post, which can be seen by the leader and the users' followers, or send a direct message, which is seen only by the leader. Users also can "like" a leader's post, which increases the popularity of a leader's message. Visual communication research suggests that creative images have the potential to influence public opinion because images can have greater success at grabbing viewers' attention, conveying emotions, and changing political behavior (Brader, 2005; Graber, 1996). Grabe and Bucy (2009) note that images are "central to the conduct and outcome of contemporary politics" (p. 7). With its heavy focus on visuals, Instagram may enjoy similar political influence.

An Exploration of Social Media-Enabled Voter Relationships through uses and Gratifications Theory, Psychological Contract and Service-Dominant Orientation

“…The research found considerable evidence for informational, social and entertainment needs, along with some evidence of instrumental (guidance) and self-discovery needs. Overall, the findings are in line with Parmelee and Roman's (2019) recent research. Informational motivations, i.e., information seeking and information sharing, are the predominant uses of various political activities on social media (e.g., Macafee, 2013; Kim and Johnson, 2012).…”

“…These studies highlight that informational, social, self-expression, entertainment and guidance are the main gratifications that drive online political activities. Parmelee and Roman (2019) confirm the presence of these gratifications among users following politicians on Instagram. Their study shows that information, guidance and social gratifications were the predominant gratifications for following politicians on Instagram.…”

“…Another major initiator of engaging with PEs on social media is the needs for entertainment and relaxation (Kim and Johnson, 2012). This is an important motivation for following PEs on social media but only among younger voters (under 40) (Parmelee and Roman, 2019). The study found considerable evidence for this gratification.…”

“…For instance, political comments are driven by information-sharing and social needs, whereas politicians are ‘liked’ for self-expression. Similarly, gratifications are determined by audience characteristics also (Parmelee and Roman, 2019; Park, 2013). Moreover, gratifications differ with medium i.e., newspaper, TV, and radio.…”

“…Although the gratifications associated with following politicians on Instagram have been studied recently, the quantitative approach adopted by Parmelee and Roman (2019) does not allow for the emergence of new activity-specific gratifications. New gratifications emerge with new media technologies and activities.…”