Visual Political Campaigning and Instagram Strategies: Evidence from the 2020 US Presidential Elections

Yıl 2021, Sayı: 55, 130 - 145, 22.09.2021

Gizem Melek

https://doi.org/10.47998/ikad.889206

Cited By: 1

Öz

The purpose of this study is to examine how political candidates use Instagram as a strategic tool during the 2020 US Presidential elections. The article focuses on 282 Instagram posts; 92 from Donald Trump and 190 from Joe Biden during the last month of the election campaign. Drawing on Russmann and Svensson (2016), the study adopts a quantitative content analysis method to determine whether Instagram was used under the following categories: (1) broadcasting campaign messages, (2) mobilizing supporters, (3) managing the candidate’s image, and (4) strengthening and complementing other campaign materials (hybrid campaign). The results show that the candidates mostly used Instagram for mobilization, while the broadcasting strategy was the second-highest category for both candidates. In terms of image management, the candidates preferred to portray themselves only in professional settings and never in a private / family setting. The celebrities subcategory of the image management was only found occasionally for both candidates. Neither Biden nor Trump preferred the use of the hybrid strategy.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Instagram, Image, Visual political campaign, 2020 US Presidential Elections, Content Analysis.

Görsel Seçim Kampanyası ve Instagram Stratejileri: 2020 ABD Başkanlık Seçiminden Bulgular

Öz

Bu çalışmanın amacı 2020 ABD başkanlık seçimi sırasında adayların Instagramı nasıl bir stratejiyle kullanarak seçim kampanyası aracına dönüştürdüklerini irdelemektir. Bu doğrultuda adayların kampanya sürecinin son bir ayını kapsayan paylaşımları odağa alınmıştır. Donald Trump’tan 92, Joe Biden’dan ise 190 olmak üzere toplam 282 görsele Russmann ve Svensson (2016)’ın Instagram’a özel tasarladıkları kodlama cetveli kullanılarak nicel içerik analizi yapılmıştır. Analizde adayların Instagram stratejileri Russmann ve Svensson (2016)’ın kodlama cetvelindeki takip eden kategorilere göre ortaya çıkarılmıştır: (1) kampanya mesajlarını yayınlamak, (2) destekçileri harekete geçirmek (mobilizasyon), (3) adayın imajını yönetmek ve (4) diğer kampanya materyallerini güçlendirmek ve tamamlamak (melez kampanya). Tanımlayıcı analiz sonuçlarına göre adaylar Instagram’ı en çok mobilizasyon amacıyla kullanırken, yayın yapma stratejisi her iki aday için de takip eden ikinci en yüksek kategori olmuştur. Adaylar imaj yönetimi açısından sadece profesyonel ortamlarda görüntülenmeyi ve hiçbir zaman özel/aile ortamında resmedilmemeyi tercih etmişlerdir. Bununla birlikte imaj yönetiminin ünlüler alt kategorisi her iki adayda da düşük oranda olmakla birlikte tespit edilmiştir. Melez kullanımı ise ne Biden ne de Trump tercih etmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Instagram, İmge, Görsel Seçim Kampanyası, 2020 ABD Başkanlık Seçimi, İçerik Analizi.

Kaynakça

• Andı, S., Aytaç, S. E., ve Çarkoğlu, A. (2020). “Internet and social media use and political knowledge: Evidence from Turkey”, Mediterranean Politics, 25(5), s. 579-599. doi:10.1080/13629395.2019.1635816
• Blair, J. Anthony, (2012). The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments. C. Tindale içinde, Groundwork in the Theory of Argumentation (s. 261-279). London: Springer.
• Bode, L., ve Dalrymple, K. E. (2016). “Politics in 140 Characters or Less: Campaign Communication, Network Interaction, and Political Participation in Twitter”, Journal of Political Marketing, 15(4), s. 311–332. doi:10.1080/15377857.2014.959686
• Bode, L., ve Vraga, E. K. (2018). “Studying Politics Across Media”, Political Communication, 35(1), s. 1-7. doi:10.1080/10584609.2017.1334730
• Borah, Porismita, (2016). “Political Facebook use: Campaign strategies used in 2008 and 2012 presidential elections”, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 13(4), s. 326–338. doi: 10.1080/19331681.2016.1163519
• Bossetta, Michael, (2018). “The digital architectures of social media: Comparing political campaigning on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in the 2016 US election”, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(2), s. 471-496.
• Bucher, H.-J. ve Schumacher, P. (2006). “The relevance of attention for selecting news content. An eye-tracking study on attention patterns in the reception of print and online media”, Communications, 31(3), s. 347-368.
• Cmeciu, C. (2014). Beyond the online faces of Romanian candidates for the 2014 European Parliament elections: a visual framing analysis of Facebook photographic images. G. Horvath, R. K. Bako, ve E. Biro-Kaszas (Eds.), Ten Years of Facebook: Proceedings from the Third International Conference on Argumentation and Rhetoric içinde (s. 405-434). Nagyvarard, Romania: Partium Press.
• Eldin, Amira Karam, (2016). “Instagram role in influencing youth opinion in 2015 election campaign in Bahrain”, European Scientific Journal, 12(2), s. 245-257.
• Enli, Gunn, (2017). “Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: Exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election”, European Journal of Communication, 32(1), s. 50-61. doi:10.1177/0267323116682802
• Enli, G. S., ve Skogerbø, E. (2013). “Personalized campaigns in party-centered politics: Twitter and Facebook as arenas for political communication”, Information, Communication & Society, 16(5), s. 757–774. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2013.782330
• Filimonov, K., Russmann, U., ve Svensson, J. (2016). “Picturing the party: Instagram and party campaigning in the 2014 Swedish Elections”, Social Media + Society, 2(3), s. 1-11.
• Gerodimos, R., ve Justinussen, J. (2015). “Obama’s 2012 Facebook campaign: Political communication in the age of the like button”, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 12(2), s. 113–132. doi: 10.1080/19331681.2014.982266
• Goldbeck, J., Grimes, J. M., ve Rogers, A. (2010). “Twitter use by the US Congress”, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61, s. 1612–1621. doi: 10.1002/asi.21344
• Goodnow, Trischa, (2013). “Facing off: A comparative analysis of Obama and Romney Facebook timeline photographs”, American Behavioral Scientist, 57(11), s. 1584-1595.
• Grabe, M. E. ve Bucy, E. P. (2009). Image Bite Politics: News and the Visual Framing of Elections, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Graber, Doris A., (1996). “Say it with pictures”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 546(1), s. 85-96.
• Graham, T., Broersma, M., Hazelhoff, K., ve van’t Haar, G. (2013). “Between broadcasting political messages and interacting with voters: The use of Twitter during the 2010 UK general election campaign”, Information, Communication and Society, 16(5), s. 692–716. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2013.785581
• Highfield, T., ve Leaver, T. (2015). “A Methodology for Mapping Instagram Hashtags”, First Monday, 20(1). doi:10.5210/fm.v20i1.5563
• Lalancette, M. ve Raynauld , V. (2019). “The power of political image: Justin Trudeau, Instagram, and celebrity politics”, American Behavioral Scientist, 63(7), s. 888-924.
• Liebhart, K. ve Bernhardt, P. (2017). “Political Storytelling on Instagram: Key Aspects of Alexander Van der Bellen’s Successful 2016 Presidential Election Campaign”, Media and Communication, 5(4), s. 15-25.
• Melek, Gizem, (2015). Medya Arası Gündem Belirleme Kuramı Çerçevesinde Hürriyet ve Twitter Üzerine Bir Çalışma. (Yayımlanmamış doktora tezi). Ege Üniversitesi, İzmir.
• Melek, Gizem, (2017). “A Study on Hürriyet and Twitter within the Framework of Intermedia Agenda-Setting”, İletişim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi, 44, s.17-41.
• Melek, G. ve Müyesseroğlu, E. (2021). “Political Storytelling of Ekrem İmamoğlu on Instagram during 2019 Istanbul Mayoral Elections in Turkey”, Visual Studies. doi: 10.1080/1472586X.2021.1975501
• Metz, M., Kruikemeier, S. ve Lecheler, S. (2020). “Personalization of politics on Facebook: examining the content and effects of professional, emotional and private self-personalization”, Information, Communication & Society, 23(10), s. 1481-1498. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2019.1581244
• Muñoz, C. L., ve Towner, T. L. (2017). “The image is the message: Instagram marketing and the 2016 presidential primary season”, Journal of Political Marketing, 16(3-4), s. 290–318. doi:10.1080/15377857.2017.1334254
• Pineda, A., Bellido-Pérez, E. ve Barragán-Romero, A. (2020). “’Backstage moments during the campaign’: The interactive use of Instagram by Spanish political leaders”, New Media & Society, doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820972390
• Rosenberg, S. W., Bohan, L., McCaffert, P. ve Harris, K. (1986). “The image and the vote: The effect of candidate presentation on voter preference”, American Journal of Political Science, 30(1), s. 108-127.
• Russmann, Uta, (2012). “Online political discourse on Facebook: An analysis of political campaign communication in Austria”, Journal for Political Consulting and Policy Advice, 3, s. 115–125.
• Russmann, U., ve Svensson, J. (2016). How to study Instagram? Reflections on coding visual communication online. Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government. Krems, Austria.
• Schill, Dan, (2012). “The visual image and the political image: A review of visual communication research in the field of political communication”, Review of Communication, 12(2), s. 118-142.
• Singletary, Michael W., (1994). Mass Communication Research: Contemporary Methods and Applications. White Plains, NY: Longman.
• Stacks, D. W. ve Hocking, J. E. (1992). Essentials of Communication Research. New York: HarperCollins.
• Statista (2021), https://www.statista.com/statistics/421169/most-followers-instagram/. Erişim Tarihi: 12.09.2021.
• Steffan, Dennis, (2020). “Visual Self-Presentation Strategies of Political Candidates on Social Media Platforms: A Comparative Study”, International Journal of Communication, 14, s. 3096–3118.
• Svensson, J. ve Larsson, A. O. (2016). “Interacting with Whom?: Swedish Parliamentarians on Twitter during the 2014 Elections”, International Journal of E-Politics, 7(1), s. 1-15. doi:10.4018/IJEP.2016010101
• Sweetser, K. D. ve Lariscy, R. W. (2008). “Candidates Make Good Friends: An Analysis of Candidates’ Uses of Facebook”, International Journal of Strategic Communication, 2(3), s. 175-198. doi:10.1080/15531180802178687
• Towner, Terri L., (2013). “All political participation is socially networked? New media and the 2012 election”, Social Science Computer Review, 31(5), s. 527-541.
• Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart J., (2019). “Selfies, policies, or votes? Political party use of Instagram in the 2015 and 2016 Spanish general elections”, Social Media + Society, 5(2), s. 1-15.
• Uluçay, D. M., ve Melek, G. (basım aşamasında). “Self-Presentation Strategies and the Visual Framing of Political Leaders on Instagram: Evidence from the Eventful 2019 Istanbul Mayoral Elections”, Visual Communication.
• Veneti, A., Jackson, D. ve Lilleker, D. G. (2019). Visual political communication, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Williams, C. B. ve Gulati, G. J. (2013). “Social networks in political campaigns: Facebook and the congressional elections of 2006 and 2008”, New Media & Society, 15(1), s. 52–71. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812457332