What do Portuguese MPs use Twitter for? : A study case of political communication in a country with a small Twitter Adoption rate

Sofia Ferro-Santos; Gustavo Cardoso; Susana Santos

doi:10.7764/cdi.58.72109

Autores/as

Sofia Ferro-Santos ISCTE-IUL https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1586-6339
Gustavo Cardoso ISCTE-IUL https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2067-4718
Susana Santos ISCTE-IUL https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5225-6671

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.58.72109

Palabras clave:

comunicación política, redes sociales, parlamentarios, Portugal, Twitter

Resumen

¿Para qué utilizan Twitter los diputados portugueses? Un estudio de caso de comunicación política en un país con una baja tasa de adopción de Twitter.
Portugal tiene la tasa de adopción de Twitter más baja de Europa occidental y un sistema político que no fomenta el contacto directo con el electorado. Entonces, ¿para qué utilizan Twitter los parlamentarios portugueses? Recopilamos y codificamos manualmente 2192 tweets de parlamentarios. El análisis revela que utilizan Twitter principalmente como herramienta de trabajo enfocada a la niche “élite twittera”. Twitter es significativamente más adoptado por parlamentarios varones, de partidos pequeños y no-conservadores y de los distritos electorales más grandes. Aunque el seguimiento en Twitter se ve afectado por el reconocimiento público, la popularidad sólo se ve afectada por la actividad.

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Biografía del autor/a

Sofia Ferro-Santos, ISCTE-IUL

Ph.D. candidate in Communication Sciences at ISCTE-IUL, she holds an International Master in Management degree from Nova SBE. She is a visiting professor at the ISCTEIPPS postgraduate program in Communication and Politics, where she teaches political marketing and a seminar course. She has also collaborated on European projects such as EUMEPLAT and IBERIFIER. She has previously worked in strategic consulting for Hiscox and Everis (now NTT Data). Her research focuses on political communication. She was awarded a Ph.D. Merit Scholarship of the ISCTE-IUL for Communication Sciences (2021-2024).

Gustavo Cardoso, ISCTE-IUL

Tenured professor of Sociology of Communication at ISCTE-IUL and a researcher at CIES. He is also an associate researcher at CADIS (Center d'Analyse et d'Interventions Sociologiques) in Paris and Director of OberCom in Lisbon. He is currently the director of the Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and of three postgraduate programs in Communication at ISCTE-IUL, namely the postgraduate program in Journalism, the postgraduate program in Factchecking and disinformation, and the postgraduate program in Communication and Politics Advisory.

Susana Santos, ISCTE-IUL

Holds a Ph.D. from the ISCTE-IUL (2012), is a research fellow at CIES-IUL, and a visiting assistant at the department of Sociology, ISCTE-IUL. Since 2002, she has been working in several research projects in the fields of Sociology of Communication, Political Sociology and Sociology of Law. Co-coordinator of the thematic section of Sociology of Law and Justice of the Portuguese Sociological Association. Co-opted member of the Board of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law (RCSL) from the International Sociological Association (ISA). Sub-director of the postgraduate program in Communication and Politics Advisory.

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