Understanding the online relationship between politicians and citizens. A study on the user engagement of politicians’ Facebook posts in election and routine periods

ABSTRACT Social media have offered politicians a way to reach a broader audience and citizens a dynamic way to respond and interact with politicians’ communication. In this study we focus on how two important dimensions of the social media messages of politicians impact different types of user engagement: the distinction between political and private posts and the degree of emotionality of the post. Additionally, we compare the amount and types of interaction between routine periods and election periods. Supported by automatic data gathering and coding we analyze all Facebook posts of 124 Belgian politicians for a period of more than two years (N = 34,408). Our results indicate that different types of Facebook posts lead to different types of user engagement. Private posts generate more reactions, while political posts are more often shared and commented on. Additionally, Facebook posts with positive, and, negative emotional language garner more interaction than those with less emotionality. Finally, during election campaigns both politicians and citizens are more active. There is a proliferation of the amount of Facebook messages that politicians post, and these messages also score higher on engagement.