New media in political campaign. The case of Madrid regional elections in 2021 on TikTok
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Abstract
Due to the television revolution and the arrival of social networks, political communication has undergone
a great transformation, both in Spain and in the rest of the world. The use that parties make
of their corporative profiles on social networks is increasingly tending towards spectacularization and
trivialization of content. TikTok has been the latest platform to burst on the political, media and electoral
chessboard. This research explores the role that this social network plays in current political communication,
as well as the possibilities it offers for so-called spectacularization and the degree of professionalization
with which the different formations work. The publications made by the candidate parties during
the campaign and pre-campaign periods of the Madrid 2021 regional elections were taken as sample.
This electoral appointment was the first in which TikTok becomes part of the communication strategies.
The content analysis is combined through triangulation with in-depth interviews with the different political
groups. The results show an experimental use of TikTok as an electoral tool, a strong commitment to
confrontation and trivialization of messages and a better audience response to tendentious and spectacular
elements. However, the use of this app remains still unprofessionalized and is not really decisive:
what happens on TikTok stays on TikTok.
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