Facebook use and personalization among Malaysian politicians during the 14th Malaysian general election = Penggunaan Facebook dan personalisasi oleh ahli politik Malaysia semasa Pilihanraya Umum Ke-14

• Main Authors: Mohamed, Shafizan, Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman, Wan Mohd Ghazali, Wan Norshira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Communication and Media Studies (FCMS), Universiti Teknologi MARA 2019
• Subjects: H61.8 Communication of information; JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia; JQ719 Elections in Malaysia
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/74217/1/74217_Facebook%20Use%20and%20Personalization.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/74217/; https://forumkomunikasi.uitm.edu.my/images/FK2019Vol14No1/Facebook_23-43.pdf
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Politicians today are very much reliant on Facebook to communicate with the public and promote their political ideologies. In an attempt to explore how the politicians use Facebook during election campaigns, this article explores official Facebook posts by three prime ministerial candidates during the 14th Malaysian General Election. Content analysis of the candidates’ Facebook posts showed that they strategically use Facebook to create and maintain a positive image rather than promoting issues and engaging in discussions with the public. The candidates differed in terms of the amount of posts but had minor differences in the characteristics of their Facebook contents. All of them focused on promoting their personal image suggesting that Facebook is encouraging the personalization of politics. ******************************** Ahli politik hari ini sangat bergantung kepada Facebook untuk berkomunikasi dengan orang ramai dan mempromosikan ideologi politik mereka. Dalam usaha untuk meneroka bagaimana ahli politik menggunakan Facebook semasa kempen pilihan raya, artikel ini meneroka hantaran Facebook rasmi oleh tiga calon perdana menteri semasa Pilihanraya Umum Malaysia ke-14. Analisis kandungan hantaran Facebook sampel calon itu menunjukkan mereka secara strategik menggunakan Facebook untuk mencipta dan mengekalkan imej positif daripada mempromosikan isu semasa atau terlibat dalam perbincangan dengan orang ramai. Hasil kajian juga mendapati walaupun jumlah hantaran adalah berbeza tetapi mereka berkongsi ciri-ciri kandungan hantaran yang senada. Mereka juga menggunakan Facebook untuk promosi imej peribadi masing-masing. Oleh itu, dapatan ini membuktikan Facebook telah membentuk keperibadian berpolitik.