Digital politics in transition and the new logics of fluid visibility on social media: The Ocasio-Cortez case
Journal cover Society Register, volume 9, no. 4, year 2025
PDF

Keywords

digital politics
social media engagement
platform dynamics
political communication
post-platform society

Number of views: 102


Number of downloads: 47

Abstract

In the context of the growing centrality of digital platforms in contemporary political communication, the role of social media in shaping the identity and consensus of political leaders appears increasingly crucial. The online activity of a prominent figure like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offers valuable insights into the ongoing transformations in communication strategies and modes of interaction. The rise in engagement on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook—contrasted with a decline in followers on X (formerly Twitter), despite increased interaction—raises essential questions about user disaffection, the role of algorithmic dynamics, and the impact of platform ownership decisions in reshaping the media ecosystem. The analysis of the data, as processed from specialized sources, contributes to a broader understanding of the shift toward a post-platform-centric communication environment, where political visibility increasingly depends on leaders’ ability to adapt to technological and cultural change.

https://doi.org/10.14746/sr.2025.9.4.02
PDF

References

Abid, A., Roy, S. K., Lees-Marshment, J., Dey, B. L., Muhammad, S. S., & Kumar, S. (2025). Political social media marketing: a systematic literature review and agenda for future research. Electronic Commerce Research, 25(2), 741-776. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-022-09636-7

Abidin, C. (2021). Mapping internet celebrity on TikTok: Exploring attention economies and visibility labours. Cultural Science Journal, 12(1), 77-104. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.140

Barberá, P. (2020). Social media, echo chambers, and political polarization. The state of the field, prospects for reform. In N. Persily & J. A. Tucker (Eds.), Social Media and Democracy (pp. 34–55). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108890960.004

Battista, D. (2024a). Political reconfiguration in the social space: data analysis and future perspective. Frontiers in Sociology, 8, 1226509. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1226509

Battista, D. (2023a). Knock, Knock! The Next Wave of Populism Has Arrived! An Analysis of Confirmations, Denials, and New Developments in a Phenomenon That Is Taking Center Stage. Social Sciences, 12(2), 100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12020100

Battista, D. (2023b). For better or for worse: politics marries pop culture (TikTok and the 2022 Italian elections). Society Register, 7(1), 117-142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/sr.2023.7.1.06

Battista, D. & Petrone, A. (2025). Communication Strategies and Online Political Attack: TikTok as a Global Electoral Battleground. Review of Human Rights, 11(1), 1-29.

Belabbes, M. A., Ruthven, I., Moshfeghi, Y., & Rasmussen Pennington, D. (2023). Information overload: a concept analysis. Journal of Documentation, 79(1), 144-159. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-06-2021-0118

Bimber, B. & Copeland, L. (2013). Digital media and traditional political participation over time in the US. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 10(2), 125-137. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2013.769925

Boccia Artieri, G. (2012). Pubblici, cittadini e consumatori nella (Social) Network Society. Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Boulianne, S. (2020). Twenty years of digital media effects on civic and political participation. Communication research, 47(7), 947-966. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218808186

Blumenthal, S. (1982). The Permanent Campaign. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Bruns, A. & Highfield, T. (2015). Is Habermas on Twitter?: Social media and the public sphere. In A. Bruns et al. (Eds.), The Routledge companion to social media and politics (pp. 56-73). London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315716299-5

Burgess, J. & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online video and participatory culture. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.

Castells, M. (2002). The Internet galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, business, and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255771.001.0001

Cervi, L. (2021). Tik Tok and generation Z. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 12(2), 198–204. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2021.1915617

Cervi, L., Tejedor, S., & Lladó, C. M. (2021). TikTok and the new language of political communication. Cultura, lenguaje y representación, 26, 267-287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6035/clr.5817

Chadwick, G. (2013). A systems view of planning: towards a theory of the urban and regional planning process. London: Pergamon Press.

Chadwick, A. (2017). The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190696726.001.0001

Comunello, F. (2010). Networked Sociability. Riflessioni e analisi sulle relazioni sociali (anche) mediate dalla tecnologia. Milano: Guerini Scientifica.

Couldry, N. & Hepp, A. (2018). The mediated construction of reality. Malden, MA: Wiley & Sons.

Dodds, T., De Vreese, C., Helberger, N., Resendez, V., & Seipp, T. (2023). Popularity-driven metrics: Audience analytics and shifting opinion power to digital platforms. Journalism Studies, 24(3), 403-421. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2167104

Engesser, S., Ernst, N., Esser, F., & Büchel, F. (2017). Populism and social media: How politicians spread a fragmented ideology. Information, Communication & Society, 20(8), 1109-1126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1207697

Enli, G. (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), 50-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323116682802

Falkheimer, J. & Heide, M. (2014). Strategic communication in participatory culture: From one-and two-way communication to participatory communication through social media. In D. Holtzhausen & A. Zerfass (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of strategic communication (pp. 337-350). London: Routledge.

Freelon, D. (2014). On the interpretation of digital trace data in communication and social computing research. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 58(1), 59-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2013.875018

Gerbaudo, P. (2018). Social media and populism: an elective affinity?. Media, Culture & Society, 40(5), 745-753. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718772192

Gil de Zúñiga, H., Molyneux, L., & Zheng, P. (2014). Social media, political expression, and political participation: Panel analysis of lagged and concurrent relationships. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 612-634. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12103

Gil de Zúñiga, H. & Liu, J. H. (2017). Second screening politics in the social media sphere: Advancing research on dual screen use in political communication with evidence from 20 countries. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 61(2), 193-219. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2017.1309420

Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. New Haven: Yale University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300235029

Gros, B. & García-Peñalvo, F. J. (2023). Future trends in the design strategies and technological affordances of e-learning. In J. M. Spector, B. B. Lockee, & M. Childress (Eds.), Learning, design, and technology: An international compendium of theory, research, practice, and policy (pp. 345-367). Cham: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17461-7_67

Hall, J. A. (2018). When is social media use social interaction? Defining mediated social interaction. New Media & Society, 20(1), 162-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816660782

Highfield, T. (2017). Social media and everyday politics. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons.

Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Lambach, D. (2020). The territorialization of cyberspace. International Studies Review, 22(3), 482-506. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viz022

Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). Instagram: Visual social media cultures. Cambridge: Wiley & Sons.

Lewandowsky, S., Cook, J., Fay, N., & Gignac, G. E. (2019). Science by social media: Attitudes towards climate change are mediated by perceived social consensus. Memory & Cognition, 47, 1445-1456. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-019-00948-y

Lilleker, D. G., Koc-Michalska, K., Schweitzer, E. J., Jacunski, M., Jackson, N., & Vedel, T. (2011). Informing, engaging, mobilizing or interacting: Searching for a European model of web campaigning. European Journal of Communication, 26(3), 195-213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323111416182

Luebke, S. M. (2021). Political authenticity: Conceptualization of a popular term. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 26(3), 635-653. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161220948013

Jenkins, H. & Deuze, M. (2008). Convergence culture. Convergence, 14(1), 5-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856507084415

Johnson, T. J. & Kaye, B. K. (2014). Credibility of social network sites for political information among politically interested internet users. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(4), 957-974. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12084

Karppi, T. & Crawford, K. (2016). Social media, financial algorithms and the hack crash. Theory, Culture & Society, 33(1), 73-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276415583139

Khamis, S., Ang, L., & Welling, R. (2017). Self-branding,‘micro-celebrity’and the rise of social media influencers. Celebrity Studies, 8(2), 191-208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292

Klinger, U. & Svensson, J. (2015). The emergence of network media logic in political communication: A theoretical approach. New Media & Society, 17(8), 1241-1257. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814522952

Marshall, J. (2024). Can close election regression discontinuity designs identify effects of winning politician characteristics?. American Journal of Political Science, 68(2), 494-510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12741

Marwick, A. & Boyd, D. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter. Convergence, 17(2), 139-158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856510394539

Napoli, P. (2019). Social media and the public interest: Media regulation in the disinformation age. New York: Columbia University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7312/napo18454

Nelson, J. L. & Lei, R. F. (2018). The effect of digital platforms on news audience behavior. Digital Journalism, 6(5), 619-633. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1394202

Papacharissi, Z. (2010). A Private Sphere: Democracy in a Digital Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Pearce, W., Özkula, S. M., Greene, A. K., Teeling, L., Bansard, J. S., Omena, J. J., & Rabello, E. T. (2020). Visual cross-platform analysis: Digital methods to research social media images. Information, Communication & Society, 23(2), 161-180. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1486871

Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. London: Penguin Books.

Ragnedda, M. & Muschert, G. W. (2013). The digital divide. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203069769

Ren, J., Dong, H., Popovic, A., Sabnis, G., & Nickerson, J. (2024). Digital platforms in the news industry: how social media platforms impact traditional media news viewership. European Journal of Information Systems, 33(1), 1-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2022.2103046

Riffe, D., Lacy, S., Watson, B. R., & Lovejoy, J. (2023). Analyzing media messages: Using quantitative content analysis in research. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003288428

Salzano, D., Scognamiglio, I., & Battista, D. (2023). La rispazializzazione digitale nelle aree interne del Sud Italia. H-ermes: Journal of Communication, 24, 51-72.

Senft, T. M. (2013). Microcelebrity and the branded self. In J. Hartley, J. Burgess, & A. Bruns (Eds.), A companion to new media dynamics (pp. 346-354). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118321607.ch22

Snyder, J. (2014). Visual representation of information as communicative practice. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(11), 2233-2247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23103

Sorice, M. (2020). La partecipazione politica nel tempo della post-democrazia. Culture e Studi del Sociale, 5(2), 397-406.

Stieglitz, S. & Dang-Xuan, L. (2013). Social media and political communication: a social media analytics framework. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 3, 1277-1291. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-012-0079-3

Sundar, S. S. (2015). The handbook of the psychology of communication technology. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118426456

Theocharis, Y., Boulianne, S., Koc-Michalska, K., & Bimber, B. (2023). Platform affordances and political participation: how social media reshape political engagement. West European Politics, 46(4), 788-811. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2087410

Vaccari, C. & Valeriani, A. (2021). Outside the bubble: Social media and political participation in Western democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190858476.001.0001

Valenzuela, S., Kim, Y., & Gil de Zúñiga, H. (2012). Social networks that matter: Exploring the role of political discussion for online political participation. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(2), 163-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edr037

Van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199970773.001.0001

Van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & De Waal, M. (2018). The platform society: Public values in a connective world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190889760.001.0001

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Yasseri, T., Margetts, H., John, P., & Hale, S. (2016). Political turbulence: How social media shape collective action. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400873555

Zulli, D. & Zulli, D. J. (2022). Extending the Internet meme: Conceptualizing technological mimesis and imitation publics on the TikTok platform. New Media & Society, 24(8), 1872-1890. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820983603