The Use of Social Media as the New Platform for Women’s Campaign in Local Executive Election

Proceedings of The International Conference on Social Sciences in the 21st Century

Year: 2019

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/ics21.2019.07.368

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The Use of Social Media as the New Platform for Women’s Campaign in Local Executive Election

Mouliza K.D Sweinstani

 

ABSTRACT: 

The advancement of information and communication technology makes women regional head candidates have many choices to campaign themselves to the public. This study aims to analyze how the female candidate’s digital campaign model in the Simultaneous Regional Election (Pilkada) in 2018 can influence public perceptions of female candidates. By using a mixed method approach through the content analysis method in 1881 female candidate social media uploads (twitter and Instagram) during the four months of the 2018 regional election campaign, it can be concluded that female candidates take advantage of gender stereotypes that have been attached to women while communicating with voters. This strategy can be seen from how female candidates carry the political issues promoted and how they attract the attention of voters by representing their gender identities (as a woman). However, there is no correlation between the use of social media and their winning. Social Media campaign at least can be a tool for women to reduce bias in the society through its feature to blow up their programs in a borderless society. This study also succeeded in elaborating Newman and Perloff’s political marketing theory by adding electoral system indicators to “social imaginary” domains which in the type of plurality electoral system with a single district such as Pilkada, candidates tend to get closer to the whole community, rather than creating identity similarities to certain segment.

Keywords: Digital Campaign, Pilkada 2018, Social Media Campaign, Political Campaign, Female candidates.