Memes in Romania: A New Form of Political Participation

Abstract

Political communication has been shaped by the technological and social changes our society has faced and social media has become the main platform of communication, allowing people to share their thoughts, images and therefore political ideas. With the political digitalization, the political meets the social through platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. From creating targeted posts for the online thought sharing, politicians are more relevant than ever, thanks to social media platforms. The process of creating a political image has now adapted to the specifici- ties of social media platforms. One of most popular structures of promotion to the masses: the memetic culture. Creating and sharing political content has been given a new meaning nowadays. If at first, memes have been perceived as an expression of humoristic content, they can now be seen as a new way of expressing political behavior—by creating and sharing a certain type of political memes, individuals can associate and support their beliefs towards certain political trends and candidates. The present study aims at proving that the act of meme-sharing on social media platforms can be perceived as a modern form of involvement within the political community. The results have shown that memes can indeed be an instru- ment of political participation and delegitimization.