Keywords
new and traditional media
social networks
Italy
political leadership
Abstract
This contribution focuses on analysing political communication in Italy during the 2022 national elections, with particular attention to the TikTok platform, where prominent Italian political leaders have appeared. To this end, we used a combination of social analysis tools, including Fanpage Karma and Blogmeter Live Insight. The collected data were scrutinized using a multidisciplinary approach that combines Political Communication Theory and Media Analysis. The aim is to explore the role of pop culture in political communication and understand how this phenomenon influences political participation and users’ choices. Furthermore, the possible consequences of the growing popularity of pop political communication on political representation are examined, as well as whether this is a momentary or long-lasting phenomenon.
References
Almond, G. A., & Powell, G. B. (1978). Comparative Politics: System, Process and Policy. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown.
Alexander, J. C. (2010). The performance of politics: Obama’s victory and the democratic struggle for power. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Amado, A. (2016). Política pop: De líderes populistas a telepresidentes. Buenos Aires: Ariel.
Baranowski, M. (2019). Sociology of knowledge in times determined by knowledge. Society Register, 3(1), 7-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/sr.2019.3.1.01
Barile, N. (2014). Brand Renzi: Anatomia del politico come marca. Milano: Egea.
Bentivegna, S. (2014). La politica in 140 caratteri. Twitter e spazio pubblico. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Bentivegna, S. (2015). A colpi di tweet. La politica in prima persona. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Blumenthal, S. (1980). The Permanent Campaign: Inside the World of Elite Political. Boston: Beacon Press.
Boccia Artieri, G. (2012). Stati di connessione. Pubblici, cittadini e consumatori nella (Social) Network Society. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Boyd, D. (2014). It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale: Yale University Press.
Bracciale, R. (2020). Sharing a Meme! Questioni di genere tra stereotipi e détournement. SocietàMutamentoPolitica, 11(22), 91-102.
Cacciotto, M. (2011). Storytelling e politica. Un binomio vincente? Comunicazione Politica, 3/2020. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Castells, M. (2009). Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Campus, D. (2010). Mediatization and personalization of politics in Italy and France: The cases of Berlusconi and Sarkozy. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 15(2), 219-235. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161209358762
Campus, D. (2013). Women Political Leaders and the Media. Berlin: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137295545
Ceccarini, L. (2015). La cittadinanza online. Il Mulino: Bologna.
Cervi, L. y Marín-Lladó, C. (2021). What are political parties doing on TikTok? The Spanish case. Profesional de la información, 30(4), e300403. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.jul.03
Cervi, L., Tejedor, S. & Marín Lladó, C. (2021): TikTok and the new language of political communication: the case of Podemos. Cultura, Lenguaje y Representación, 26, 267-287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6035/clr.5817
Ceccobelli, D. (2017). Facebook al potere. Lo stile della leadership al tempo dei social media. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli.
Chadwick, A. (2013). The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199759477.001.0001
Chadwick, A. (2009). Web 2.0: New Challenges for the Study of E-Democracy in an Era of Informational Exuberance. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, 5(1), 9-41.
Codeluppi, V. (2007). La vetrinizzazione sociale. Il processo di spettacolarizzazione degli individui e della società. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Coleman, S., & Blumler, J. G. (2009). The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice and Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511818271
Corner, J., & Pels, D. (2003). Media and Restyling of Politics. California: SAGE.
Cotta, M., Della Porta, D., & Morlino, L. (2001). Scienza Politica. Il Mulino: Bologna.
Crellin, Z. (2020). Students have switched to online classes due to coronavirus and their TikToks are chaotic AF. Pedestrian TV.
Dalton, J. R., & Wattenberg, M. P. (2003). Parties Without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford Scholarship Online. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0199253099.001.0001
D’Ambrosio,M. (2022). Emotions in political discourse and social narratives: sociological reflections on traditional and new media. Society Register, 6(4) 101-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/sr.2022.6.4.06
Diamanti, I. (2014). Oltre la democrazia del pubblico. Comunicazione politica, 3, 581-590. doi: 10.3270/78586
Diamanti, G. (2020). I segreti dell’urna. Torino: UTET Università.
Díaz-Noci, J..(2010). Medios de comunicación en Internet: Algunas tendencias. El Profesional de la Información, 19(6), 561-567. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2010.nov.01
De Blasio, E. & Sorice, M. (2014). Radicals, rebels and maybe beyond. Social movements, women’s leadership and the web 2.0 in the Italian political sphere. CMCS Working Papers, 1-60. Retrieved from https://iris.luiss.it/handle/11385/95781
Delli Carpini, M. X., & Williams, B. A. (2001). Let us Infotain You: Politics in the New Media Environment. In L. W. Bennett & R. M. Entman (Eds.), Mediated Politics: Communication in the Future of Democracy (pp. 160-181). New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613852.009
De Rosa, R. (2014). Cittadini digitali: L’agire politico al tempo dei social media. Milano: Apogeo.
Enli, G. (2015). Mediated authenticity. How the media constructs reality. New York, NY: Peter Lang. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/978-1-4539-1458-8
Easton, D. (1953). The Political System: An Inquiry into the State of Political Science. New York: Knopf.
Easter, M. (2020). It’s not just teens: We’re all in the TikTok-dance-challenge phase of quarantine now. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-ent-tiktok-dance-challenges-20200411-ypz43v7wr5getm7sn5tcoycbzq-story.html
Fernández-Castrillo, C. (2014). Prácticas transmedia en la era del prosumidor: Hacia una definición del contenido generado por el usuario (CGU). Cuadernos de Información y Comunicación, 19, 53-67. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CIYC.2014.v19.43903
Freschi, A. C. & Mete, V. (2020). The electoral personalization of Italian mayors: A study of 25 years of direct election. Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 50(2), 271-290. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ipo.2019.40
Gamir-Ríos, J. & Sánchez-Castillo, S. (2022). The political irruption of short video: Is TikTok a new window for Spanish parties? Communication & Society, 35(2), 37-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15581/003.35.2.37-52
Giacomini, G. (2018). Potere Digitale. Milano: Meltemi.
Giansante, G. (2014). La comunicazione politica online. Come usare il web per costruire consenso e stimolare la partecipazione. Roma: Carocci.
Gibson, R. K. & McAllister, I. (2015). Normalising or equalising party competition? Assessing the impact of the web on election campaigning. Political Studies, 63, 529-547. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12107
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.
Haasch, P. (2020). From Zoom detention to virtual gun violence—teens are making memes and TikToks about their online classes. Insider. Retrieved from https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-tiktok-memes-classes-cancelled-online-school-zoom-google-hangouts-2020-3.
Holman, M. R., Schneider, M. C., & Pondel, K. (2015). Gender targeting in political advertisements. Political Research Quarterly, 68(4), 816-829. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912915605182
Hjarvard, S. (2013). The mediatisation of culture and society. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203155363
Jaramillo-Dent, D., Contreras-Pulido, P., & Pérez-Rodríguez, A. (2022). Immigrant Influencers on TikTok: Diverse Microcelebrity Profiles and Algorithmic (In)Visibility. Media and Communication, 10(1), 208-221. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4743
Jones, J. P. (2005). Entertaining Politics. New Political Television and Civic Culture. Washington: Rowman and Littlefield.
Kale, S. (2020). How coronavirus helped TikTok find its voice. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/26/how-coronavirus-helped-tiktok-find-its-voice
Langer, A. I. (2010). The politicization of private persona: Exceptional leaders or the new rule? The case of the United Kingdom and the Blair effect. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 15(1), 60-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161209351003
Li, Y., Guan, M.I., Hammond, P., & Berrey, L. (2021). Communicating Covid-19 information on TikTok: a content analysis of TikTok videos from official accounts featured in the Covid-19 information hub. Health education research, 36(3), 261-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyab010
López-Fernández, V. (2022). Nuevos medios en campaña. El caso de las elecciones autonómi- cas de Madrid 2021 en TikTok. Universitas-XXI. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, 36, 221-241. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17163/uni.n36.2022.09
Mancini, P. (2011). Leader, president, person: Lexical ambiguities and interpretive implications. European Journal of Communication, 26(1), 48-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323110394835
Marletti, C. (2010). La repubblica dei media. L’Italia dal politichese alla politica iperreale. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Mazzoleni, G. (2004). La comunicazione politica. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Mazzoleni, G. (2015). Towards an inclusive digital public sphere. Can the Media Serve Democracy? Essays in Honour of Jay G. Blumler, 174-183. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137467928_16
Mazzoleni, G. & Bracciale, R. (2019). La politica pop online: I meme e le nuove sfide della comunicazione politica. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Mazzoleni, G. & Sfardini, A. (2009). Politica pop. Da Porta a porta a L’isola dei famosi. Bologna: Il Mulino.
McQuail, D. (2012). Towards a Sociology Of Mass Communication. London: Macmillan.
Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Manin, B. (1995). Principes du gouvernement représentatif. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.
Manin, B. (2013). Principi del governo rappresentativo. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Nagle, A. (2017). Kill All Normies. Online Culture Wars from 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right. Portland: Zero Books.
Novelli, E. (2018). Le campagne elettorali in Italia protagonisti, strumenti, teorie. Roma-Bari: Edizioni Laterza.
Ortega Fernández, E. & Rodríguez Hernández, J. (2021). Estrategia de comunicación de los cuerpos de seguridad a través de píldoras audiovisuales en TikTok Policía Nacional y Guardia Civil en España. aDResearch ESIC International Journal of communication research, 25, 160-185. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7263/adresic-025-09
Parisi, L., & Rega, R. (2010). La comunicazione degli attori politici: tra disintermediazione e media sociali. Firenze: Firenze University Press.
Palmieri, A. (2016). Internet e comunicazione politica. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Postman, N. (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin Books.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon& Shuster. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/358916.361990
Rega, R., & Bracciale, R. (2018). La self-personalizzation dei leader politici su Twitter. Tra professionalizzazione e intimizzazione. The LAB’s Quarterly, 61-86.
Rodríguez-Martínez, R., Codina, L., & Pedraza-Jiménez, R. (2012). Indicadores para la evaluación de la calidad en cibermedios: análisis de la interacción y de la adopción de la web 2.0. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 35(1), 61-93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2012.1.858
Rothert, A.(2022). Emotional landscape of politics. Society Register, 6(4), 63-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/sr.2022.6.4.04
Sampedro, V. (2011). New Trends and Challengers in Political Communication. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 16(4), 432-443. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161211418291
Sánchez Castillo, S. (2021). La construcción del liderazgo político y la identidad escenográfica en TikTok. In J. Sierra Sánchez & A. Barrientos Báez (Eds.), Cosmovisión de la comunicación en redes sociales en la era postdigital (pp. 215-227). Madrid: McGraw-Hill Interamericana de España.
Schudson, M. (1988). The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life. New York: The Free Press.
Scolari,.C.A., Winocur, R., Pereira, S., & Barreneche, C. (2018). Alfabetismo transmedia. Una introducción. Comunicación y Sociedad, 33, 7-13.
Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69, 99-118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1884852
Sorice, M. (2011). La comunicazione politica. Roma: Carocci.
Sorice, M. (2009). Sociologia dei Mass media. Roma: Carocci.
Stanyer, J. (2007). Modern Political Communication. Cambridge: Polity.
Stanyer, J. & Wring, D. (2004). Public images, private lives: The mediation of politicians around the globe. Parliamentary Affairs, 57(1), 1-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsh001
Stanyer, J. (2012). Intimate Politics. Cambridge: Polity.
Street, J. (2001). Mass Media, Politics, and Democracy. London: Palgrave. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-4009-4
Thompson, J. B. (1995). The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity.
Van Zoonen, L. (2005). Entertaining the Citizen. When Politics and Popular Culture Converge. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Ventura, S. (2019). I leader e le loro storie. Narrazione, comunicazione politica e crisi della democrazia. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Waisbord, S. R. (2020). Interrogating the Analytical Value of «Media System» for Comparative Political Communication. Comunicazione Politica, 21(1), 35-46.
Way, A. K., & Malvini Redden, S. (2017). The study of youth online: A critical review and agenda. Review of Communication, 17(2), 119-136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2017.1293838
Willingham, A. J. (2020). El encierro ha hecho de Tik Tok una manera divertida de unirse en familia. Cnn Espanol. Retrieved from https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2020/04/21/el-encierro-ha-hecho-de-tiktok-una-manera-divertida-para-unirse-en-familia/
Zaller, J. (2003). A new standard of news quality: Burglar alarms for the monitorial citizen. Political Communication, 20, 109-130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600390211136
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Daniele Battista
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Manuscript authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permissions for any copyrighted materials included within manuscripts. The authors must provide permission letters, when appropriate, to the Society Register Editors.
In addition, all published papers in Society Register are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported License.
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern CC BY-NC 4.0 as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.