Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Communication is one of the core elements of populism, especially in social media. Through such digital platforms, political leaders can communicate directly with citizens and build both their discourse and their political leadership. Although the literature has so far identified the existence of a populist political communication style, the expansion of populism and its connection with social media are extending and diversifying the concept, as well as adding new repertoires. In order to analyse this, we propose a study of the communication strategy of the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau who, with a background of citizen activism, became mayor of the city in 2015 thanks to a political organisation situated as left populist. The methodology is based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content of Colau’s Facebook profile. A total of 226 posts between 2015 and 2017 are analysed. The results make it possible to identify a new specific modality within the populist style of political communication, namely the inclusionary populist type. This focuses on issues related to defense of the rights of the weakest social groups and works within a framework of social justice and solidarity with others. Likewise, the study confirms how Facebook is configured as a preferred platform for the construction of political leadership.

This article analyses the use of social networks as a public relations strategy within the framework of a crisis communication strategy deployed following a terrorist attack. More specifically, the Twitter account of the Police of Catalonia (@mossos) is analysed in view of the attacks that took place in Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017. Methodologically, content analysis of the Catalan police’s Twitter account is performed through the collection and subsequent analysis of messages issued in the 10-day period following the first attack. Additionally, and as a result of this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight experts in crisis communication, with the aim of determining, within the framework of this case study, the functions and uses of social networks in the context of crises caused by terrorist attacks. The results show how, in a context of crisis communication, the messages posted by the Mossos d’Esquadra’s Twitter account transcend mere service information to become an asset of public relations, engagement and constant interaction and mutual collaboration and dialogue between the Catalan police and the population that it administers. As a whole, this has an impact on the improvement of the image and reputation of the Catalan police among its fellow citizens.

On June 1, 2019, Nayib Bukele assumed the presidency of the Republic of El Salvador, becoming the youngest leader in the democratic history of this Central American country. His communications strategy on Twitter attracted the attention of the international press, because of a peculiar way of using this tool to tweet direct orders to his governmental team through Twitter, with many of his messages having a humoristic lilt. Observing this way of communicating prompted a wish to investigate the communications strategy of President Nayib Bukele on Twitter. Online tools, such as Twitonomy and Vicinitas, were used for the quantitative analysis of the account over the first two weeks of his presidency. Additionally, an in-depth interview was held with the communications secretary of the government of El Salvador, Sofía Medina. Finally, a broad description of the economic and social situation of the country helps understand the relevance of the data obtained from the analysis, emphasizing the scarce access to both information technology and social networks among the inhabitants.

Since the emergence of Online Travel Reviews (OTRs), the collective co-creation of a destination brand image has been more evident than ever before. Stories and emotions expressed in these platforms by experienced tourists can significantly influence other users’ intention to visit. This study explores the extent to which political matters like the incidents that occurred during the last quarter of 2017 related with the Catalan independence process may have a negative impact on the brand image of a destination. This paper has used a specific methodology for content analysis of social media in the field of tourism to study the worst rated OTRs (one-star) of seven different attractions of Barcelona in three social media platforms that are able to geolocate places (TripAdvisor, Google Maps and Facebook) to determine the nature, discourses and the emotions raised. Although most complaints refer to the intrinsic problems of the attractions like high entrance prices and long queues due to tourism overcrowding, results reveal that OTR platforms also include tourists’ personal opinions on such issues as politics and religion. The originality of this research paper is that it delves into users’ co-creation of destination brand image through the analysis of negative OTRs and the emotions expressed in their comments.

The Spanish general elections of 20 December 2015 and 26 June 2016, which can be understood as an electoral continuum, were notable for being the first case of a repeated election in Spain’s history, the consequence of the difficulty in forming a government due to the emergence of two new political forces, Podemos and Ciudadanos, led by Pablo Iglesias and Albert Rivera, respectively. We analysed the Twitter communications of these political leaders in both election campaigns using quantitative and qualitative research techniques, we also compare the overall results with the results of the Top Discussion Indicator (TDI). The main objectives of the study were: a) to determine the degree of influence and the ability to create community of both political leaders; b) to identify strategic communication differences between the two leaders and changes between the two campaigns; and c) to investigate the interconnections between their Twitter profiles and media profiles (mainly Spanish newspapers and TV channels). Our findings indicate that issues linked to their own campaigns were the most discussed by these politicians. It is noted that political leaders have little capacity to influence beyond their own community on Twitter, in this sense, hybridization with traditional media and, in particular, with television helps to penetrate beyond the digital sphere. In addition, it was found that Pablo Iglesias and Albert Rivera interacted most with Atresmedia and Prisa group media.

The advantages of social media platforms as interactive information sources raise the importance of examining how they are used by political digital opinion leaders to influence public perceptions. Twitter, especially, played a major role in Egypt’s January 25 revolution facilitating news dissemination, public discussions and debates. Analyzing the communicative strategies of two Egyptian political influencers –Ammar Ali Hassan and Ezzedine Fishere– ten years after Egypt’s political change, and the role they play in public discourse through their Twitter accounts, this research offers an overview of the current role played by Egyptian digital political influencers in influencing public opinion. Focusing on the content and discourse of their tweets for two months, October and November 2019, the digital political influencers were selected based on the number of followers divided by the amount of interactivity on their tweets, such as retweets and favorites. The unit of analysis is the tweet that received the largest amount of interactivity. Results showed that both influencers had a unidirectional opinion strategy. While Hassan’s tweets, @ammaralihassan, seemed purposeless, not yielding any clear and valuable content to the reader, Fishere, @FishereEzzedine, was more outspoken and clearer in his communicative strategy, using evidence in defending human rights in Egypt and the Arab World. The analysis indicated more fact-based tweets by Fishere, who seems to play a more significant role in his communication network, despite minimal interaction.

Nigeria is a developing country with varied developmental challenges. It has one of the worst maternal and child healthcare (MCH) indices, globally. The media, as a vital element within the society, has the potential to contribute to improving MCH through appropriate framing and communication of MCH issues. Achieving media inclusion poses a challenge as media contents are often products of varied power relations. Extant studies have established that health is often not primed in Nigerian newspapers where politics and business hold sway. News media contents are also influenced by varied factors which exists both within and outside of news media organisations. Premised on sociology of news as critical perspective, this study examines power relations in newspaper representation of MCH issues in Nigeria. Combining content analysis of MCH-related stories in newspapers with in-depth interview of newspaper health editors, it explores factors and underlying reasons driving coverage of MCH. It finds that government, local and international aid agencies, and civil societies often influence coverage of MCH issues. These groups drive media representation of MCH through established journalistic routine and reporter-source relations, often favouring priming of official news sources and ‘powerful’ elements within the society, as a necessity for maximising limited news media resources. This paper identifies various forms in which these groups manipulates media representation of MCH, urging the media to be more proactive in driving agenda for improved MCH for the citizenry, and not accede to satisfying peculiar interests over public interest.

Social media, especially Twitter, has become a strategic space for those users who try to extend their influence in the digital environment. This work focuses on opinion leaders who participate in political talk-shows. The aim is to analyse the use and the thematic agenda proposed by these actors on Twitter during electoral periods. The Twitter profiles of 20 opinion leaders (journalists, media editors and experts) of four Spanish television channels are examined. A quantitative content analysis is used on 2,588 tweets disseminated during the November 2019 general election campaign in Spain by them. Results show differences between the different types of actors who make up the sample. Journalists use Twitter to express their criticisms and reinforce their community of followers, especially using interaction and humour. Media editors are more neutral and promote their personal brand through the promotion of their media companies. Experts inform and analyse political news more than journalists, although they also criticise and respond to citizens’ comments. Regarding the subject agenda, messages on electoral results and media content predominate. Thus, the data shows how opinion leaders take advantage of Twitter to freely show their opinions, especially negative ones, and boost dialogue with users.

The advance of populism in Europe and the positioning of this type of politics on the Web are both facts substantiated by scientific research. In this connection, a platform like Twitter serves as a stage for dissemination, interaction, mobilisation and building the personality of influencer/leaders and as a strategic tool for the selection of issues and for propaganda and fake news. The main objective is to know the impact that this communication model has on both digital users and the media, particularly in electoral processes. To this end, a quantitative-qualitative comparative content analysis, which studies the issue frame and the game frame, is performed on the personal Twitter accounts of Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel), the leader of Rassemblement National (RN) in France, Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi), the leader of Liga Norte (LN) in Italy, and Santiago Abascal (@Santi_ABASCAL), the leader of Vox in Spain. In the context of the European elections held on the 26 May 2019, a sample of 2,187 tweets, user metrics (‘likes,’ retweets and comments) and their reproduction in the digital newspapers @lemondefr, @repubblica and @el_país are analysed. The initial results evince a strategic use of online tools, with a media and public response that reproduces the populist discourse of the far-right, to the point of making it go viral.

Influencers are the new brand narrative. This is why many companies and institutions are positioning their executives –using their full names– to build loyalty amongst their diverse client base. On the other hand, the reputation strategy known as “CEO Executive Visibility” aims to promote a brand by putting the spotlight on its top management and aligning their character traits with the values that the organisation wishes to transmit, thus capturing new audiences, improving follower loyalty and generating more engagement. Along these lines, and using content analysis and quantitative research methods, and combining economic and communication factors as theoretical underpinnings, this investigation examines how the chairpersons of the companies listed in the Ibex 35 (the Spanish benchmark index) use the main social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and personal blogs). The results obtained show how executive visibility strategies are applied in Spain and who the main influencers in this financial environment are. This research evidences that the chairpersons of Ibex 35 companies do not post consistently on social media and that there is a link between the public image of a company’s top management and the perception of a company and its commitment to its audience.