About platforms and purposes. A quantitative content analysis of Flemish politicians’ social media behaviour in everyday politics across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Political communication has changed remarkably throughout the years. Especially the emergence of social media platforms have boosted politicians’ communication towards the electorate. While many studies aimed to capture the social media behaviour of politicians, this study takes a comparative approach by expanding the focus to three different platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In this way, this thesis aims to contribute to the political marketing literature by providing insights into how the different platforms can be used. Therefore, the central research question of this thesis is: how do politicians employ the different social media platforms in their everyday political communication? To answer this question, two subquestions are formulated. First, through which platforms are the various functions of politicians’ online communication fulfilled? Second, to what extent does the length, use of language and vividness features, as well as social media engagement differ across the social media platforms? To answer these questions, a quantitative content analysis is conducted of 1363 social media posts, posted by the Flemish party presidents across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The results of this study indicate that Facebook is the most popular platform for political communication in Flanders. This is indicated by the fact that it is the only platform which is actively used by all politicians, as well as the high social media engagement. It is also the platform where the most effort is put in the post given their length and the fact that most are original. Facebook is mostly used for spreading political arguments and they tend to contain more language aimed towards convincing the audience of their credibility. Moreover, posts are made vivid through the use of photos or videos. Next, Twitter is also popular amongst Flemish politicians, especially the retweeting feature. It is mostly used to express criticism towards others and (almost) never for political personalisation. Posts are made vivid through the inclusion of hyperlinks. Despite the fact that it is widely used by most politicians, social media engagement is significantly lower. Finally, Instagram combines the features of posts and stories, naturally made vivid through the inclusion of pictures and videos. While Instagram posts are the least occuring format, Instagram stories are widely used by most politicians. Political personalisation is the most occuring function on Instagram. Furthermore, Instagram posts are a popular way to jump on the bandwagon, while stories are often used for self-promotion. Besides, they tend to use more language aimed at triggering the audience’s emotions.