Digital Political Communication in the  Portuguese-Speaking World: Platformization and Engagement

Berta García-Orosa

doi:10.21814/rlec.3765

Authors

Berta García-Orosa Departamento de Ciencias da Comunicación, Facultade de Ciencias da Comunicación, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6126-7401

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.3765

Keywords:

communication, political communication, digital, engagement-audience-political-party, Portuguese, Lusophone, social networks

Abstract

This article provides an exhaustive analysis of the emerging digital political communication strategies in a seldom-studied area: the Portuguese-speaking world. Through a literature review and content analysis, 25 political parties from five countries and three different continents are studied. The results confirm emerging trends common to other recently analyzed places, such as innovation in digital storytelling, platformization and the trend towards engagement as communicative interaction. However, there are new trends toward instant messaging, podcasting, audience segmentation and engagement linked to the fight against fake news.

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Author Biography

Berta García-Orosa, Departamento de Ciencias da Comunicación, Facultade de Ciencias da Comunicación, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Berta García-Orosa holds a bachelor of arts in communications sciences, a bachelor of arts in political and administration sciences, and a PhD in communication sciences from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). She is a full professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela and has studied communication and politics for more than 20 years. She has collaborated in more than 50 research projects and international research networks, the results of which have been published over 100 times in databases such as Scopus and Journal Citation Reports and publishing houses such as Springer, McGraw Hill, and Thomson. She has completed visiting research and training stays at University of Minho (Portugal), Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Cuba, and Uruguay. Spain’s Ministry of Education awarded her three 6-year research terms. In addition to her research, she has overseen doctoral and master theses, as well as undergraduate capstone projects, and she has taught undergraduate courses in journalism and audiovisual communication, as well as courses at the master’s level in political science, communication sciences, and Hispanic studies. Since 2009, she has coordinated teaching innovation in innovation in digital communication learning. In terms of managerial experience, she has served as a department secretary, vice-dean, undergraduate and master’s coordinator, and coordinator of the System of Exchange between Spanish University Centers mobility program.

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