A campaign without discourse: Content analysis of the main 2023 general election candidates' posts on social networks

Abstract

Political communication in social networks plays an essential role in electoral campaigns; however, their use and management have evolved since they began to be used in 2008. Currently, given the increase in the consumption of social networks by the population, these platforms have become a key instrument to reach the citizen, conveying ideas, political programs or the ideology of the candidate or party. Still, are social networks used with that intention? This work is based on the following hypothesis: political communication on social networks is exempt from discourse, and therefore, the candidates for the general election of 23J, the object of study of this work, do not share substantial content on social networks, but they seek to convey an image instead. To verify this, this study carries out a content analysis of the main publications made by Pedro Sánchez (PSOE); Alberto Núñez Feijoó (PP); Yolanda Díaz (Sumar); y Santiago Abascal (Vox) on Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram. Among the main conclusions, it should be noted that the discourse has been replaced by more superficial messages, and TikTok is emerging as a key player in electoral political communication.