Mediation of information and politics communication on the Facebook: performance of the candidate Rui Palmeira when running for mayor of Maceió City in 2016

Abstract

Introduction: The Increasing use of social networks by political agents and voters sets a country into the mold of the digital participatory culture, constituting a rich field for the development of research on the performance of candidates in Digital Media and the citizen political participation. The study aims to verify the performance in Facebook of the Maceió city hall candidate, Rui Palmeira, in the elections of 2016. Method: The research has an exploratory and descriptive character, based on mixed approach. The data collection was made using the Netlytic tool, followed by the analysis through the categorization of publications on his Facebook page, focusing on the interactions with the citizens. Results: Most of the postings were related to the Agenda of the candidate (24.6%) or Acknowledgments/Greetings (16.7%), and Proposals (15.8%). Nonetheless, the posts that have greater interaction of the citizens were those of Personal Issues, which comprised only 5.7% of the posts total. Conclusion: Social media, as it began to be occupied and understood as having relevance to the political scenario, can be shown by the diversification of the categories of facebook postings. The candidate was able to understand some of the premises of Web 2.0 regarding interaction and collaboration, however, it is necessary to point out that there is a long way to go in relation to the candidate's responsiveness and direct interaction with the voters using this social media tool.