ATREVIA, leading communications consultant in Spain, analyzed the communications from the Spanish politicians and the image that they presented during the summer from their Twitter profiles. ATREVIA carried out a report on what politicians do during their vacations on social media by mircoblogging. It was analyzed if they use this social network as a tool for communication to show their personal side during these days or not.
In general, the politicians activity on Twitter has increased this year. This is because of some profiles like the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, the president of the community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, have notably increased their activity on social media during the months of July and August. In the majority of cases, the number of retweets increases against the original messages, especially those from official accounts from the respective parties.
This summer, the politicians wanted to say on Twitter that they only had a few days of rest in close and familiar destinations. Almost all of them stayed in Spain and the rest travelled to Italy. In spite of being on vacations, they had the sensation of continuing working, although with a more relaxed and informal image but they did not leave behind the electoral battle and they did not miss the opportunity to attack political adversaries.
Between the profiles analyzed during June 2015 and the period of vacations from the 15th of July to the 20th of August, were the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy; the president of the community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes; leaders and general secretaries from the main political parties in Spain like Pablo Iglesias, Pedro Sánchez and Albert Rivera, in addition to the major of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, etc.
ATREVIA arrived to the conclusion that the politicians in Spain communicate certain aspects of their personal and family life with discretion. In spite of the summer season, political communication is friendlier and the “humanization” of politicians and candidates can be seen. Spanish politicians did not provide information on their hobbies, personal likes, preferred destinations, so they did not take advantage of using their personal side.
The report can be downloaded here.
