Political Communication in Social Media: A Bibliometrics Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to explain the development of research on political communication in social media indexed by Scopus from 2013 to 2023. The scoping review method is employed in this investigation. The main finding of this study is that there has been little growth in the number of publications for research on political communication on social media over the past ten years that Scopus has indexed. This has an inverse relationship with the importance of social media in politics today. Additionally, all nations that contribute the most to the publication of research on this subject hold elections as part of their democratic systems. Further, politics, communication, campaigns, and social media are four crucial topic components for studying political communication in social media. Likewise, in terms of narratives, political communication by political actors in the social media aims to launch the dissemination of information to the public to increase electoral engagement. Then, Facebook has become the most used social media lately in political communication by politicians and political parties in a democratic country. Although this social media is not so popular among young people, it is still loved by many elderly voters who are new to the internet.