Discontentment trumps Euphoria: Interacting with European Politicians’ migration-related messages on social media

Tobias Heidenreich, Jakob-Moritz Eberl, Fabienne Lind and Hajo G. Boomgaarden

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2022, issue OnlineFirst Articles, -

Abstract: We investigate user engagement with politicians' migration discourses on social media. In particular, we study the effects of message framing and support base attitudes on interactions on Facebook and Twitter in five European countries. Enriching automated analysis of social media content with survey data in a multilevel negative binomial regression approach, findings show that migration-related messages tend to elicit more interactions than other kinds of messages. Furthermore, the presence of a security frame in a migration-related message positively relates to user engagement. However, additional analyses suggest that the relevance of these frames differ between different political parties. In fact, a message gets an even higher number of interactions, when the dimension of the migration issue included in those framed messages is perceived more negatively by a party's support base. The findings have important implications for communication strategies of political actors and the state of migration discourses on social media.

Keywords: automated content analysis; Facebook; framing; migration; political communication; political elites; social media; Twitter; user engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:250896

DOI: 10.1177/14614448221074648

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