Political Communication on Social Media: An Analysis of the 2019 United Kingdom General Election, Understanding, Agenda-setting Strategies on Facebook

Details

Supervisors

Arblaster, Paul

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en communication multilingue, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

Of all the ways that the Internet and new technologies have impacted the particular field of political communication, this study focuses on the possibilities brought about by social media in terms of agenda-setting capacity. Most particularly, it examines how Facebook was used by the Conservative Party and the Labour Party in the context of the 2019 United Kingdom general election. Understanding Facebook strategic communication in the context of this general election is crucial, given the high stakes for the future of the country, which has faced tremendous political turmoil in recent years. The first part of this study presents a comparison between the agenda set by mass media and the Conservatives’ and Labour’s respective agendas, and provides interesting perspectives on the extent to which political parties were able to bypass mass media. Next, the study examines the degree of issue convergence between the Conservatives’ and Labour’s Facebook campaigns. In order to obtain a better understanding of the parties’ strategies, the degree of hostility contained in their publications is also analysed. Then, the last part of this study investigates whether the Conservative Party and the Labour Party exploited the strategic potential of Facebook ads and posts, and to which extent the image of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn was used as visual content by both parties. Our analysis brings to light some interesting underlying communication strategies developed by the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. The findings presented in this study are useful to grasp the evolution of campaigning on Facebook, as well as the impact that these new tools have had on UK politics.