We analyze the social media profiles of the main candidates for mayor of San Bartolomé de Tirajana
The 2008 presidential election in the United States marked a radical shift in how politics was conducted worldwide. Back in 2007, the young Democratic candidate Barack Obama surrounded himself with a team of experts who were able to create a brand and a social media campaign strategy around him and his famous "Yes We Can" slogan , propelling him to the White House and making him the first Black president in U.S. history. This example was revolutionary; politicians around the world began to realize that it was possible to design a successful campaign strategy without spending a single euro.
Back in 2016, with social media more widespread, Donald Trump used this tool, but in a very different way than Barack Obama had years before. Trump used Twitter to send inflammatory messages far removed from political correctness. Trump's tone shocked the world, creating widespread rejection but inspiring his followers to the point of creating a loyal mob that propelled him to victory against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Two very different strategies, but both served the same purpose: winning an election.
Returning to San Bartolomé de Tirajana, some of the mayoral candidates such as Marco Aurelio Pérez, Concepción Nárvaez, Alejandro Marichal, Samuel Henríquez and José Francisco “Paco” Pérez have been very active in networks during the pre-campaign, something that will surely increase starting today, Friday, with the beginning of the electoral campaign, even more so taking into account the determining factor they have become at the electoral level.
Which candidates are the most followed on social networks in San Bartolomé?
Despite losing popularity among young people, Facebook remains the preferred social network for candidates because it doesn't limit the number of characters and allows for the addition of multimedia content. All candidates have been very active there during the pre-campaign period, with more than a dozen posts per candidate in recent weeks.
Marco Aurelio Pérez, the frontrunner according to the polls, has 5037 followers on his Facebook page , where he shares photos of his team and excerpts from his appearances on local radio stations. The use of emojis and multimedia content suggests a certain level of understanding on the part of the candidate (or his social media team) regarding social media and the formats that attract the most attention. However, Marco Aurelio's numbers could be somewhat higher, since on April 21st he abandoned his previous page, which had 2842 followers, to migrate to his current one.
The current mayor, Concepción Nárvaez, has 3686 followers on her Facebook page and, like the AV-PP candidate, uses contemporary language on social media, interspersing emoticons and her own hashtags such as #YouGovernWithMe or #TeamNarvaez.
The First Deputy Mayor and mayoral candidate for Nueva Canarias, Samuel Henríquez, has 2726 followers , nearly a thousand fewer than his coalition partner. He also seems less inclined to include emojis in his social media posts, giving them a more formal tone, though less in tune with the times. However, Henríquez does use hashtags specific to his campaign.
The candidate for Coalición Canaria, Alejandro Marichal, whom the polls place obtaining three councilors (one less than in 2019 to the detriment of Unidos por Gran Canaria), has accumulated 6288 followers and presents, like Nárvaez and Marco Aurelio, a discourse quite adapted to social networks and their new formats, also using resources such as reels or stories.
Meanwhile, the candidate from Hablemos Ahora, Paco Pérez, has 772 followers and a more formal discourse, sharing articles related to the party and interviews he has conducted during the pre-campaign.
On Instagram, the numbers change radically. Nárvaez stands out as the candidate with the most followers on the social network most focused on visual and multimedia, with 1342, followed by Marichal with 1277 and her First Deputy Mayor, Samuel Henríquez , who completes the "podium" with 1229. Marco Aurelio Pérez does not seem to have such a widespread audience on Instagram, with 683 followers, only above Paco Pérez 's 500.
On Twitter, the social network that forces a more direct message due to its limited character count, Marco Aurelio Pérez has amassed 1348 followers, making him the most popular candidate on the platform. Paco Pérez is the second most followed candidate with 677 followers and is also the most active, having published over 5,000 tweets. Samuel Henríquez has fewer than 100 followers, while Marichal and Nárvaez have 402 and 409 respectively, with the difference being that the current mayor's account has been inactive since 2019.
The data provided by social networks is just a number, but its study and analysis is increasingly relevant in all sectors; especially in politics, where a multitude of academic studies have pointed out their importance since they have become a very useful tool to transmit a close and concise political message and can even reveal certain trends and reactions on the part of citizens that could be replicated in the polls.
With the starting signal for a long-awaited electoral campaign in which the candidates hope to win over this profile of undecided voters and strengthen their faithful, we can expect large peaks of activity on social networks on their part. Will social networks be decisive in the results of San Bartolomé de Tirajana on March 28 or will they be just another exhibition tool for the candidates?
