Political Communication and Election Campaigning on Instagram During the 14th Malaysian General Election

Abstract

Researching Instagram as a tool in political communication is a relatively new phenomenon since the platform only began to operate in 2010. However due to its increasing popularity, it is definitely time for more studies to be conducted. World leaders are becoming very prominent on Instagram. They are sharing both personal and political contents and are challenging the usually formal and beurecratic nature of political communication. Therefore this study attempts to explore how Instagram affects political communication
by focusing on how several Malaysian politicians used Instagram as part of their communication and campaign during the 14th general election that was held on May 8th , 2018. Coding analysis was done on the Instagram posts of 8 prominent Malaysian politicians. The results showed that these politicians were very active on Instagram and have extensively used Instagram to campaign
during the election thus verifying that Instagram is indeed a vital medium for political communication.