Representation of the main political leaders and propagandistic use of Instagram in Spain

The political use of social networking sites is a well-established field of research in media studies. Currently, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks and as a result of the importance it gives to images, it is a potential propaganda tool for the personalization of politics. This article performs a content analysis of 504 posts on Instagram by the leaders of the four main Spanish political parties (PSOE, PP, Ciudadanos and Podemos), focusing especially on the frequency of publication, and the content of the images and videos. The study covers from September 2 to December 2, 2018, including a non-electoral period and a regional electoral period. In general, results reveal a more frequent use of Instagram by traditional parties. In addition, there is also a predominance of the right-wing in terms of frequency of publication on Instagram. As to the content of the posts, on the one hand a pronounced individualization predominates (since party corporate symbols acquires a secondary role); on the other, there is a notorious absence of privatization, since leaders hardly appear in personal and private contexts. We conclude that there are no significant differences between the non-electoral and the electoral periods, although in the latter there is an increase of personalization and propaganda of affirmation.