Artículos de Palabra Clave · 2025

Comunicación política en Instagram: el caso de la campaña presidencial en Colombia 2022

Resumen

Within the framework of the iconographic turn in social studies, this study investigates Gustavo Petro¿s and Rodolfo Hernández¿s Instagram feeds during the 2022 Colombian presidential campaign. Based on previous studies, we expected to observe practices of media negativism, user celebrification, and actions adjusted to specific roles. A content analysis was conducted based on a total sample of 373 posts with the most user reactions. Significant differences were found depending on the candidate. Petro framed the electoral victories as popular, while Hernández alone threatened to settle accounts between the people and corrupt politicians. Petro embodied the roles of protector, great communicator, and hero. Hernández opted for the role of administrator and resorted to a framing based on his qualities to govern and his bluntness. The two candidates coincided in the customization of their content and the limited prominence of their vice presidents, Afro-descendant women, in both cases. Instagram seems to promote political communication but is less interested in negativism and government plans than in political correctness, cheerful virality, personalism, and the exposure of the candidates¿ private lives.