Political campaigns on YouTube: trade unions’ mobilisation in Europe

Abstract

Trade unions are called to increase their influence on policy‐making by becoming more politically active and use social media, but only a few studies investigate unions’ online political activism. We propose that industrial relations regime of a country relates to unions’ perceived opportunities for mobilisation and thereby also unions’ online political activism. We test this argument with the help of data about European trade union confederations’ political mobilisation on YouTube, 2007–2017. The results showed, expectedly, that resource‐rich confederations in the organised corporatist regime (Scandinavia) use YouTube for political activism to lesser degree than in other regimes; when these confederations do pursue political activism, such videos are often related to elections and reflect the political party‐union relationship. Unexpectedly, the resource‐poor confederations in the transitional regime (Central and Eastern Europe) mobilised politically on YouTube to the same extent as have the confederations in the social partnership, liberal and state‐centred regimes.

Personalisation and User Engagement

“…Theoretically, this again supports Metz's statement that the level of selfpersonalisation seen in politicians, social media is highly dependent on the context of the country in which the politician is located (Metz et al, 2019). Likewise, in Uba's study about how the public uses social media as a channel for a political campaign, specifically how trade unions use YouTube for influencing policymaking, it was found that the intensity of online political mobilisation and online election campaigning differ across regimes in Europe (Uba & Jansson, 2021). Taken together, these findings might suggest the importance of the context of the country or area in which the online political campaign is conducted.…”

Kokoomuksen ja Suomen Sosialidemokraattisen Puolueen sosiaalisen median sivistykselliset käytännöt

“…Sosiaalisen median poliittista potentiaalia tukea puolueiden jäsenten ja kansalaisten mahdollisuuksia osallisuuteen ja vaikuttamiseen voidaan pitää yhä merkittävämpänä (de Nadal 2021; Uba & Jansson 2021;Zhuravskaya ym. 2020).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue ‐ The internet, social media and trade union revitalization: Still behind the digital curve or catching up?

“…The sixth article by Uba and Jansson (2021) focuses on the online political action of confederations as a way to increase the political influence of the trade union movement. More specifically, the study seeks to understand the ways in which the industrial relations context shapes the political action of confederations on YouTube in twenty‐six European countries between 2007 and 2017.…”