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Publication

Judging a book by its cover

Book Contribution - Chapter

Subtitle:political impression management on Instagram: privatization and voter engagement
Every single day we are exposed to an almost unstoppable flow of images which has only been encouraged by the rise of social media platforms such as Instagram or YouTube. The potential of these social media channels has not remained unnoticed or unexplored by politicians and political parties. Social media platforms in general, but especially visually oriented platforms such as Instagram, encourage a shift from argumentation on political issues to the construction of an appealing public persona (Diedkova, De Landtsheer & De Vries, 2019). By drawing on the political impression management framework of De Landtsheer (2004), it is argued, a formal political appearance taps into perceptions of leadership, intelligence and political suitability in the eye of the beholder. Nevertheless, social media play a new and unparalleled role within political campaigning (Bossetta, 2018; Filimonov, Russmann & Svensson, 2016; Lilleker, Tenscher & Stetka, 2015) and may add a significant new dimension to the existing theoretical framework.The central thesis of this study is: did a social media platform like Instagram contribute to a shift in voters’ perception of political suitability from a formal image towards an increasingly informal image?
Book: Research Handbook on visual politics / Lilleker, D. [edit.]; Veneti, A. [edit.]
Pages: 244 - 257
ISBN:978-1-80037-692-2
Publication year:2023
Keywords:H1 Book chapter
Accessibility:Closed