In an electoral year where the formulas have not yet been defined, the social networks of the pre-candidates became daily spaces for opinion, communication and also campaign platforms to remain on the agendawith a specific format for each of them, in particular Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok, analyzed specialists in political communication consulted by Télam.
The director of PolíticosEnRedes.com and digital communication advisor during the presidential campaign of Together for Change (JxC) in 2015, Guillermo Vagniaffirmed that the networks of the candidates “can be considered as part of their political campaign” and added that what differentiates these messages from a traditional campaign is that “they can be directed at a specific segment of the population.”
Also the CONICET researcher and UBA teacher Martin Becerra He maintained that “everything that politicians do in the public space and social-digital networks deserves to be considered as part of a campaign, even if that politician is not a candidate.”
Both agreed that the use that applicants make of social networks is not aimed at disseminating the same “spot” on different platforms -as was done until a few years ago-, but rather each message is adapted to the logic and formats required for each social network.
“There are candidates who in television interviews have a very dense speech or address very serious discussions, but later on their social networks they seem like another person”
All the political referents who expressed their willingness to compete in this year’s presidential PASO They have verified profiles and are frequently active on Twitter and Instagram.
Twitter is the social network most used by leaders to react first-hand to statements and newsas well as to install their opinions in the media.
In addition, their Instagram accounts are used as a quick communication channel to announce events and maintain contact with other users of that network.
some opened too accounts on Tik Tok and, although with much less activity than those mentioned, the profiles of all the candidates resist on Facebookwhich are often used as broadcast messages from other networks.
For Juan Courel, political consultant and communication director of the last two presidential campaigns of the Frente de Todos (FdT), “on Twitter politicians express messages of the classic political agenda or discussion, on Instagram there is visual coverage of the agenda and on Tik Tok they seek to give a more ‘dynamic’ message that respects the format of the platform”.
Adapting the message to the style and proposal that proliferates in each social network allows it to coincide with the discourse of a certain public, as Vagni summarized it with a definition that marks the contrast of the different formats: “Politicians tend to be angry on Twitter, happy on Instagram and funny on Tiktok,” he summarized.
Networks adapted to political campaigns
For greater visibility, campaign teams focus on social networks with “more professionalism” than a few years agoCourel pointed out when recounting his experience in the 2015 presidential campaign: “Today almost all parties have adapted to the new tools provided by networks to analyze data, build communities and produce viral content.”
Courel affirmed that although many campaigns “target the young voter, the reality is that today all social strata and age segments use digital platforms,” adding that in the more adult segments of the population “perhaps Tik Tok is used less and more Facebook”.
Anyway, added Courel, the networks today constitute “undoubtedly the most direct way” for a candidate in the campaign to establish “contact” with a potential group of voters.
Vagni highlighted the possibility “of approaching the young segments of the electorate who are not interested in politics and spend a large part of the day on those platforms”but recognized that the number of followers a candidate has in these networks does not represent “a parameter of greater or lesser intention to vote, nor a sign of affinity.”
Faced with this debate, Becerra warned that the so-called “ironic consumption” on the networks sometimes “results in a boomerang because communities tend to believe that they only speak with convinced people.” and it is necessary to understand that “each of the networks has its own codes and rules regarding the use of irony”.
The differences between the networks require that press teams trying to position a candidate to compete in elections adapt the general strategy to each platform on which the candidate disseminates messagesworking on “his intonation, interpellation, the choice of actors and proposals that he makes, if he confronts or not, with whom and how he does it”, Becerra deepened.
Yes ok Twitter changed some of its logic by allowing more number of characters and the possibility of introducing videos and “live broadcast” spaces, it remains primarily a social network governed by the written word.
That explains why, At the political level, Twitter remains the virtual forum in which most of the issues on the agenda are discussed.
For his part, on Instagram and Tik Tok, as they are platforms where short videos predominate, the candidates’ accounts seek to show an “unstructured” air, different from the profile shown by the same leader in his interventions in traditional media, such as TV or radio, or when starring in campaign events or official presentations.
About, Courel argued that a successful unstructured speech will depend on “how genuine a candidate appears” in adopting that style, and to the extent that “the tone is consistent with the political message it is trying to represent.”
“There are candidates who in television interviews have a very dense speech or address very serious discussions, but later on their social networks they seem like another person,” Courel described, adding that the distance created harms the desired effect of “bringing the candidate closer” when less formal discourse does not have a good foundation to stand on.
Likewise, Vagni agreed that the content “supposedly funny” that predominates in the Instagram and Tik Tok accounts of certain candidates can be harmful because “it highlights the disconnection that the candidate has with current events”.
“People are angry and nobody needs politicians to generate that kind of content”considered.
Despite these risks, analysts agreed that social networks are now a central part of the campaign strategy of any party or coalition with a chance of competing in the next elections, both presidential and provincial.
“Today, not including Instagram and Tik Tok as campaign communication channels would be self-limiting” from the electoral race, Vagni observed.
Also, as Courel noted, facing a candidate’s campaign outside of the networks would imply “losing the opportunity to contact people who may use these networks as the main means of communication for information”, after which he remarked that “political campaigns have to be carried out where are the people”.
“If there are people in those media and those people vote, the ideal is to have some way to talk to them,” Courel stressed.
