Between anger and love

A multi-level study on the impact of policy issues on user reactions in national election campaigns on Facebook in Germany, Hungary, and Norway

Bibliographic Data

ID6443601
AuthorsHedvig Tønnesen (0009-0005-0395-9297, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, corresponding author), Matlhogonolo Bene (0000-0003-0177-9717, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Hungary; Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary), Jörg Haßler (0000-0003-2907-5228, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Anders Olof Larsson (0000-0003-3621-4687, Høyskolen Kristiania), Melanie Magin (0000-0003-2545-3594, Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Eli Skogerbø (0000-0001-6803-5021, University of Oslo), Anna-Katharina Wurst (0000-0003-1371-7652, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Year2023
Volume27
Issue4
Pages2313-2335
Publication date2023-11-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448231208122
OpenAlexW4389151145
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited42

Eliciting user reactions is an important tactic for political actors using social media like Facebook to seek attention for campaign messages on policy issues. Still, little is known about policy issues’ effect on user reactions and how structural factors play into this relationship. Applying a standardized manual content analysis on Facebook posts from political parties and their top candidates during the German, Hungarian, and Norwegian national election campaigns in 2021/2022 ( N = 4988), we investigate the relationship between policy issues and two of Facebook’s “emotional reactions” (“angry” and “love”). We find that posts addressing the economy, energy policy, and foreign policy drive more “angry” reactions, while environmental posts drive more “love” reactions. While effects are largely uniform across different party types, there are more variations between countries. Our analyses suggest that differences between individual parties and candidates and situational factors are vital to understanding the relationship between policy issues and user reactions

Advertising · Anger · Business · Foreign policy · German · Norwegian · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Situational ethics · Social media · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access