Celebrity politics in an age of visual connectivity : Exploring Instagram as a platform for political mass-self communication

• This paper explores Instagram as a platform for political mass-self communication. Drawing on theories of mediatization and celebrity politics, it analyses how various forms of symbolic connectivity are expressed and performed by 16 leading politicians in Sweden, and moreover how their social media use relate to traditional mainstream media. The study leans on a content analysis (n=800) and results show that journalism still holds a strong symbolic value, even when politicians are in charge of the political discourse. In addition, it reveals how the platform logic of Instagram contributes to the formation of digital life style politics, where symbolic connections between politicians and a variety of actors are staged through new mediatized relations. Visual political communication does inherit a democratic and interactive potential. However, according to the analyzed data, most politicians avoid public interaction. Instead, they are preoccupied with the branding of their public persona.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Instagram

celebrity politics

social media

political communication

journalism

Sweden

Media and Communication Studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)