Spain Election – The role of social media

Social media has become an essential tool for political parties in campaigning for Sunday’s general election in Spain.

Facebook –  The winner is the left-wing Podemos. The official page of the party, created in January 2014, has more than a million ‘likes’ — a bigger number than the other parties. In second place comes Ciudadanos (with more than 330,000 likes) and Vox with more than 270,000.

Instagram – Of all the parties, Vox is one of the best users of the platform. The far-right party has more than 250,000 followers, far ahead of Podemos (137,000) and Ciudadanos (around 86,000).

Will this translate in votes?

If social media popularity translated to how people would vote, then the elections would be disputed between Vox and Podemos. However, all the polls point to the PSOE getting a majority.

Social networks “are good for mobilising, identifying, and creating groups” but “we should not forget that they generate a kind of parallel universe,” said Herrero.

“They can give the feeling that a party has an extraordinary following because the algorithm puts you in contact with people that are searching the same thing but it doesn’t necessarily reflect reality.”

Euronews