Os Líderes Partidários Portugueses no Twitter: Interações e Estratégias de Hibridização Mediática

Vítor Gonçalves

doi:10.17231/comsoc.44(2023).4828

Authors

Vítor Gonçalves Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia, Escola de Sociologia e Políticas Públicas, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0342-4357

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.44(2023).4828

Keywords:

political actors, Twitter, Twitter interaction, hybrid media system

Abstract

This study aims to understand to what extent Portuguese political party leaders use the interactions accessible on Twitter, namely the retweets, mentions of other users and hyperlinks, and to observe which connection networks are created — whether within the party or outside of it, such as citizens or political actors from other parties. Additionally, we verify how political actors use Twitter to implement a strategy in the hybrid media system model, establishing links to “traditional media” such as newspapers, radio, and television. The data comprises tweets published by four Portuguese party leaders, from Partido Socialista, Partido Social Democrata, Bloco de Esquerda and Chega, during 2021 and 2022, subsequently subject to content analysis using the MAXQDA program. The research revealed that all leaders use Twitter’s interaction possibilities but with different intensities. We verified that they all employ a hybrid communication strategy by converging traditional media content in the Twitter platform. We establish a typology of communication strategies party leaders implement on Twitter from the obtained data. We also identify and characterise the possibilities that media interactions conducted by party leaders can assume in the Twitter arena.

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Author Biography

Vítor Gonçalves, Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia, Escola de Sociologia e Políticas Públicas, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

Vítor Gonçalves is a PhD candidate in communication sciences (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa). He holds a master’s degree in political science (Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, 2002–2004) and has a degree in social communication (1988–1992). He completed a journalism course at the Boston University College of Communication (United States of America) in 1998 and a television journalism course at the RTP Training Centre in 1992. He is a journalist at RTP, host of the Grande Entrevista (Great Interview), and deputy director of information in 2011–2012 and 2015–2018. He was Washington correspondent (2007–2011) and national politics editor (2000–2007). He has lectured at the Instituto Superior de Comunicação Empresarial (2011–2018) and the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas (1997–2007 and 2012 to date). He is also the author of several publications.

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