What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication
Social media has contributed to the spread of populist political communication, yet we still lack systematic knowledge of the contextual factors affecting its use. In this study, we investigated how and to what degree platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and party characteristics (populist vs. n...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Nordicom Review |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2024-0007 |
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| _version_ | 1832570313780494336 |
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| author | Magin Melanie Larsson Anders Olof Skogerbø Eli Tønnesen Hedvig |
| author_facet | Magin Melanie Larsson Anders Olof Skogerbø Eli Tønnesen Hedvig |
| author_sort | Magin Melanie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social media has contributed to the spread of populist political communication, yet we still lack systematic knowledge of the contextual factors affecting its use. In this study, we investigated how and to what degree platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and party characteristics (populist vs. non-populist parties; political ideology) affected the use of populist communication by Norwegian political parties on social media during the 2021 national election campaign. Based on a tripartite conceptualisation of populist communication consisting of people-centrism, anti-elitism, and the exclusion of out-groups, we conducted a standardised content analysis of the official social media accounts of nine parties and their party leaders. Populist communication was overall rather rare, being most widespread on Facebook and least widespread on Twitter. Which parties used populist communication the most depended on the platform, and it was not always the populist Progress Party [Fremskrittspartiet] that communicated in the most populist manner. Parties located towards the fringes of the political party spectrum used more populist communication. Anti-elitism was more widespread among left-wing parties, and almost exclusively the right-wing Progress Party excluded out-groups. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9452bdc7555940c88caf23f2a16bfdca |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2001-5119 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordicom Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-9452bdc7555940c88caf23f2a16bfdca2025-02-02T15:48:50ZengSciendoNordicom Review2001-51192024-03-0145s1366510.2478/nor-2024-0007What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communicationMagin Melanie0Larsson Anders Olof1Skogerbø Eli2Tønnesen Hedvig3Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NorwayDepartment of Communication, Kristiania University College, NorwayDepartment of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NorwaySocial media has contributed to the spread of populist political communication, yet we still lack systematic knowledge of the contextual factors affecting its use. In this study, we investigated how and to what degree platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and party characteristics (populist vs. non-populist parties; political ideology) affected the use of populist communication by Norwegian political parties on social media during the 2021 national election campaign. Based on a tripartite conceptualisation of populist communication consisting of people-centrism, anti-elitism, and the exclusion of out-groups, we conducted a standardised content analysis of the official social media accounts of nine parties and their party leaders. Populist communication was overall rather rare, being most widespread on Facebook and least widespread on Twitter. Which parties used populist communication the most depended on the platform, and it was not always the populist Progress Party [Fremskrittspartiet] that communicated in the most populist manner. Parties located towards the fringes of the political party spectrum used more populist communication. Anti-elitism was more widespread among left-wing parties, and almost exclusively the right-wing Progress Party excluded out-groups.https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2024-0007election campaigningnorwaypopulist political communicationcontent analysissocial mediafacebookinstagramtwitter |
| spellingShingle | Magin Melanie Larsson Anders Olof Skogerbø Eli Tønnesen Hedvig What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication Nordicom Review election campaigning norway populist political communication content analysis social media |
| title | What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication |
| title_full | What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication |
| title_fullStr | What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication |
| title_short | What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication |
| title_sort | what makes the difference social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties use of populist political communication |
| topic | election campaigning norway populist political communication content analysis social media |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2024-0007 |
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