“Jag blir lite påmind om min mamma när jag ser den här bilden” : En kvalitativ studie inom området politisk kommunikation och fenomenet personalisering.
Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Social media has changed how political communication is distributed (Häussler, 2021) and has led to party leaders’ using the platforms to create an image of themselves as ordinary individuals (Bărbieru, 2020). Ahead of the 2022 election, social media is expected to play a more prominent role, with it being the source of choice for first-time voters (Internetstiftelsen, 2022). Today voters are also said to identify themselves more with the political candidate than the party (Bjerling, 2012) which makes it relevant to study party leaders’ usage of personalisation on social media. The purpose of this study is to examine how young adults perceive and create meaning around Swedish party leaders' self-construction through personalisation on Instagram by combining semi-structured interviews and reception analysis to be able to understand the phenomenon of party leaders’ personalisation on social media through the interviewees perspective. Drawing on theories of Political Impression Management, Impression Management and Parasocial Relations. By examining how the biggest users of social media, young adults (Internetstiftelsen, 2021; 2022), perceive and create meaning around party leaders' self-construction through personalisation on social media, it can show how the party leaders are perceived and if the interviewees perceive the self-construction to be genuine. Eight interviews with young adults between the ages of 21 to 28 years old have been conducted and the material from the interviews has been coded and thematised in NVivo 12. The results show that self-construction is perceived to be visible when the party leaders show that they are one of the people. The images were interpreted to be genuine through the party leaders sharing their everyday life, this also indicated if the party leader could impact their audience. The conclusion of the study is that self-construction can be visible through the party leaders' usage of relatable aspects to be perceived as one of the people. In this particular study, it could be divided into three main parts: nature, family and selfies. The interviewees perceive Swedish party leaders’ self-construction through personalisation on Instagram to be genuine if it reflected on the party leaders’ everyday life and their spare time outside of politics. If the image was a selfie it was increasingly more perceived as genuine. Even though the reception material was from the party leaders' self-construction through personalisation, it cannot determine if it represents the party leaders’ personal life, or them outside of politics. With all images being perceived by the interviewees as positive for the party leader.
Author: Norberg, Emma
Language: English
Topic: Social Media and Politics
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7029322016