Political Mediatization in Memes: A Netnography Study on Ganjar Pranowo & Mahfud MD Candidate Memes for The 2024 Period

Authors

  • Alfa Pandutama Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia
  • Almira Kusumowardani Habsari Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia
  • Azizah Laurensia Achmad Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia
  • Muhammad Alviansyah Hidayat Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59188/eduvest.v4i12.50056

Keywords:

Mediatization, Politics, Memes, Election, Social Media

Abstract

Memes as digital content with humorous characteristics are an important part of online interaction on social media. The existence of memes in politics acts as a rhetorical tool and discursive argument, with its use to convey messages with political content. The use of memes as political mediatization in the 2019 elections in Indonesia as an expressive form of the success team of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates at that time. This study examines political mediatization through memes that occurred in the candidates Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD in the 2024 Indonesian President and Vice President elections. Using a netnographic method, the research identifies five categories of meme usage- pure humor, ridicule, general political information, candidate information, and expressions of support.. These memes, originally light-hearted, evolved into strategic tools shaping a relaxed and approachable political image. This study highlights how media logic has transitioned into social media logic, prioritizing personalized content and user engagement to influence public perception. This transition underscores the effectiveness of memes in altering political narratives and fostering voter interaction during campaigns.

References

Asp, K. (2014). Mediatization: rethinking the question of media power. In K. Lundby (Ed.), Mediatization of Communication. De Gruyter Mouton.

Baharudin, H. (2023, November 28). Indonesia’s Presidential Candidates Use Dance, Cats, Memes to Appeal to Netizens Ahead of Feb Polls. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-s-presidential-candidates-use-dance-cats-and-memes-to-appeal-to-netizens-ahead-of-feb-election

Bebić, D., & Volarevic, M. (2018). Do not mess with a meme: The use of viral content in communicating politics. Communication and Society, 31(3), 43–56. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.31.3.43-56

Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information Communication and Society, 15(5), 739–768. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.670661

Bulatovic, M. (2019). The imitation game: The memefication of political discourse. European View, 18(2), 250–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/1781685819887691

Castells, M. (2013). Communication Power. Oxford University Press.

Davison, P. (2012). The Language of Internet Memes. In The Social Media Reader. New York University Press.

Dawkins, R. (1976). The Selfish Gene (30th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Eriyanto. (2021). Analisis Jaringan Media Sosial: Dasar-dasar dan Aplikasi Metode Jaringan Sosial untuk Membedah Percakapan di Media Sosial. Prenada Media.

Fauzi, A., Riansi, E. S., & Kurniasih, D. (2020). Expressive Action on Meme in Instagram Towards The Election of President and Vice President 2019. AKSIS: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Dan Sastra Indonesia, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.21009/AKSIS.040202

Gerber, A. S., Green, D. P., & Larimer, C. W. (2008). Social pressure and voter turnout: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment. American Political Science Review, 102(1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305540808009X

Halversen, A., & Weeks, B. E. (2023). Memeing Politics: Understanding Political Meme Creators, Audiences, and Consequences on Social Media. Social Media and Society, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231205588

Hapsoro, L. S. (2018). Beyond the “lulz” Audience engagement with political memes in the case of Indonesia. Lund University.

Haßler, J., Maurer, M., & Oschatz, C. (2014). Media Logic and Political Logic Online and Offline. Journalism Practice, 8(3), 326–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2014.889451

Hjarvard, S. (2008). The Mediatization of Society. Nordicom Review, 29(2), 102–131. https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0181

Holm, C. H. (2021). What Do You Meme? The Sociolinguistic Potential of Internet Memes. In Article Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English (Issue 7). https://doi.org/10.7146/lev.v0i7.125340

Indra, R. (2023, December 29). Election Debates Spawn Memes from Candidates, Audience. The Jakarta Post. https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2023/12/29/election-debates-spawn-memes-from-candidates-audience.html

Keating, A., & Melis, G. (2017). Social media and youth political engagement: Preaching to the converted or providing a new voice for youth? British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19(4), 877–894. https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117718461

Klinger, U., & Svensson, J. (2015). The emergence of network media logic in political communication: A theoretical approach. New Media and Society, 17(8), 1241–1257. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814522952

Koc-Michalska, K., & Lilleker, D. (2017). Digital Politics: Mobilization, Engagement, and Participation. In Political Communication (Vol. 34, Issue 1, pp. 1–5). Taylor and Francis Inc. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1243178

Kozinets, R. V. (2020). Netnography : The Essential Guide to Qualitative Social Media Research. Sage Publications.

Kulkarni, A. (2017). Internet meme and Political Discourse: A study on the impact of internet meme as a tool in communicating political satire. In Community & Communication Amity School of Communication (Vol. 6). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3501366

Kurnia, E. (2024, February 2). Iklan Konten Kampanye Politik di Media Sosial Lebih Kaya Visual. Kompas.Id. https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2024/02/01/konten-kampanye-politik-di-media-sosial-lebih-kaya-visual?open_from=Translator_Mark

Linxiao, S. (2021). Mediatized Politics in China: A Perspective of Government Communication on Weibo and WeChat. Socialis Series in Social Science, 1, 12–31.

Long, P., & Wall, T. (2012). Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (Second). Routledge.

Malik, S. A. R. M. (2017). The Construction of Candidate’s Political Image on Social Media: A Thematic Analysis of Facebook Comments in the 2014 Presidential Election in Indonesia. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etdhttps://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/444

Mertens, D. M. (2023). Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Integrating Diversity With Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods (6th ed.). Sage Publications.

Moreno-Almeida, C. (2021). Memes as snapshots of participation: The role of digital amateur activists in authoritarian regimes. New Media and Society, 23(6), 1545–1566. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820912722

Mortensen, M., & Neumayer, C. (2021). The playful politics of memes. In Information Communication and Society (Vol. 24, Issue 16, pp. 2367–2377). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1979622

Mulyanto, R. (2024, February 14). Indonesia Elections Sparks Memes and Jokes Galore. TRT World. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/indonesia-elections-sparks-memes-and-jokes-galore-16970294

Nurhanisah, Y., Finaka, A. W., & Rahman, I. N. (2023, October). Pengguna Internet Indonesia Paling Banyak Usia Berapa? Indonesiabaik.Id. https://indonesiabaik.id/infografis/pengguna-internet-indonesia-paling-banyak-usia-berapa

Perloff, R. M. (2014). The Dynamics of Political Communication: Media and Politics in a Digital Age. Routledge.

Rogers, R., & Giorgi, G. (2023). What is a meme, technically speaking? Information Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2174790

Segev, E., Nissenbaum, A., Stolero, N., & Shifman, L. (2015). Families and Networks of Internet Memes: The Relationship Between Cohesiveness, Uniqueness, and Quiddity Concreteness. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(4), 417–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12120

Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in Digital Culture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Soebakir, D. R., Pratama, B. I., & Hair, A. (2020). Pemetaan Meme Politik Pasca Pemilihan Umum Presiden Indonesia 2019. Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 8(2), 58–66. https://doi.org/10.21070/kanal.v8i2.220

Strömbäck, J. (2008). Four phases of mediatization: An analysis of the mediatization of politics. International Journal of Press/Politics, 13(3), 228–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161208319097

Strömbäck, J., & Esser, F. (2014). Introduction: Making sense of the mediatization of politics. Journalism Studies, 15(3), 243–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.897412

Stromer-Galley, J. (2014). Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age. Oxford University Press.

Urfan, N. F. (2011). Membaca Gejala “Mediatisasi” Politik di Indonesia. Jurnal Komunikasi, 6(1).

Voltmer, K., Christensen, C., Neverla, I., Stremlau, N., Thomass, B., Vladisavljević, N., & Wasserman, H. (2019). Media, Communication and the Struggle for Democratic Change: Case Studies on Contested Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16748-6

Wiggins, B. E. (2019). The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture. Routledge.

Williams, J. (2016, June 6). The Good and The Bad of Political Memes During Election Seasons. The Chronicle. https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2016/06/political-memes

Zhang, B., & Gearhart, S. (2022). It’s Obviously Funny to be a Meme: Viewing, Sharing, and Creating Memes for Political Entertainment and Observation. The Journal of Social Media in Society , 11(2), 53–76.

Downloads

Published

2024-12-24