Political communication in an age of visual connectivity: Exploring Instagram practices among Swedish politicians

Abstract

This article explores the specific features of Instagram as a platform for visual political communication. Drawing on theories of mediatization and celebrity politics, it analyses how various forms of symbolic connectivity are expressed and performed by sixteen leading politicians in Sweden, and moreover how their social media use relates to news media. The study leans on a content analysis (n=800) and results show that journalism still holds a strong symbolic value, even when politicians are in charge of the political discourse. In addition, it reveals how the platform logic of Instagram contributes to the formation of digital lifestyle politics, where symbolic connections between politicians and a variety of actors are staged through new mediatized relations. Visual political communication does inherit a democratic and interactive potential. However, according to the analysed data, most politicians avoid public interaction. Instead, they are preoccupied with the branding of their public persona.

Instagram y la espectacularización de las crisis políticas. Las 5W de la imagen digital en el proceso independentista de Cataluña

“…Una segunda tendencia relevante en la gestión de redes es la apuesta por la humanización y la autenticidad del líder (Bentivegna, 2015). Twitter o Instagram permiten mostrar la vida de los políticos de una forma cercana y espontánea (Ekman;Widholm, 2017). Contribuyen a humanizarlos y a lograr una aproximación más personal con los ciudadanos (Enli;Skogerbø, 2013).…”

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“…A la hora de publicar esta fotografía, la red social Instagram es un canal idóneo, ya que actualmente está siendo utilizada por la mayor parte de los partidos políticos tanto en el escenario nacional como internacional. De hecho, son muchos los estudios que ya han analizado esta plataforma digital como herramienta de comunicación política (Ekman & Widholm, 2017;Lalancette & Raynauld, 2017;Liebhart & Bernhardt, 2017;Muñoz & Towner, 2017;Selva-Ruiz & Caro-Castaño, 2017;Russmann & Svensson, 2017;Verón Lassa & Pallarés Navarro, 2017;López-Rabadán & Doménech-Fabregat, 2018).…”

Instagram and Political Storytelling among Malaysian Politicians during the 14th General Election

“…Currently, the study on the use of Instagram in politics and election campaigns is mostly limited to understanding political communication, and that most research focuses on the strategic context of Instagram usage rather than on the specific meanings made by visual imagery (Ekman & Widholm, 2017). The use of Instagram in political communication as both a means of staging a political personality and a form of image management has not been sufficiently E-ISSN: 2289-1528 https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2019-3503-21 studied yet.…”

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