How politicians adapt to new media logic. A longitudinal perspective on accommodation to user-engagement on Facebook

Abstract

ABSTRACT The expansion of the Internet, especially social media, enables political actors to address voters directly. However, on social media, where user interactions factor into the algorithmically determined relevance of messages and, in turn, their spread, political actors have to use communication features that entice users to interact with their messages. Taking mediatization theory as a starting point, I transferred assumptions about accommodation into the domain of social media. By conducting a content analysis of Facebook posts made by members of the Bundestag, the German Parliament, from 2010 to 2015, I analyzed whether political actors had adapted their communication to social media logic and more often used message features previously demonstrated to increase the number of interactions. Among the results, politicians had increasingly used message features that had previously raised the number of interactions, including new technical opportunities and social affordances on Facebook, whereas their use of established communication strategies had remained relatively stable. At the individual level, politicians with higher status were more likely to incorporate successful strategies, which suggests that accommodation is constrained by available resources.