Engagement between politicians and followers on Facebook. The case of the 2016 general elections in Spain

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25029/od.2020.251.19

Keywords:

Facebook, Social media, Political communication, Electoral campaigns, Interaction, Engagement

Abstract

Social networks have incorporated citizens into political life, especially in electoral periods. The objective of this research is to evaluate which elements of the messages disseminated by politicians on Facebook favor a higher degree of engagement, support and commitment from followers. The posts published by PP, PSOE, Podemos and Ciudadanos, and their respective candidates are examined with the techniques of content analysis during the campaign of the 2016 general elections in Spain. The results indicate that the degree of engagement is very low, despite registering significant levels of interaction.

Author Biographies

Susana Miquel-Segarra, Jaume I University

Susana Miquel Segarra has a PhD in Business, Economics and Society from the University of Alicante (UA) with international mention (Glasgow Caledonian University). Lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences and Vice Dean in the Degree of Advertising and Public Relations at the Jaume I University. Researcher in the ENCOM group and collaborator in the Journalism, communication and power (UJI) group. Her researches focuses on professional profiles in the field of corporate communication and public relations, and also social media and their dialogic and communicative potential in different fields.

Amparo López-Meri, Jaume I University

Amparo López-Meri is a lecturer of Journalism in the Department of Communication Sciences of the Jaume I University of Castelló. She has a degree in Journalism from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, an official Master in New Trends and Innovation in Communication and a PhD from the Jaume I University. His doctoral thesis has been awarded the Lorenzo Gomis Prize 2017 by the Spanish Society of Journalism. His lines of research focus on the reformulation of journalism and political communication in the digital environment, as well as media ethics.

Nadia Viounnikoff-Benet, Jaume I University

Nadia Viounnikoff-Benet has a PhD in Communication from the Jaume I University of Castelló and a Master in Management of Political Communication from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He also has a postgraduate degree in Electoral Campaign Management from ICAI-ICADE-Comillas Pontifical University of Madrid. His doctoral thesis has a nomination for best research of the year at the 2018 Victory Awards of the Washington Academy of Political Arts & Ciences at Georgetown University. Her lines of research focuses on the visual narrative of political leadership in an election campaign.

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Published

2020-09-30

How to Cite

Miquel-Segarra, S., López-Meri, A., & Viounnikoff-Benet, N. (2020). Engagement between politicians and followers on Facebook. The case of the 2016 general elections in Spain. Obra Digital, (19), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.25029/od.2020.251.19

Issue

No. 19 (2020): Digital uses to promote democratic experiences

Section

Monographic

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