정치인 유튜브 선거 캠페인 콘텐츠의 소구와 이용자 참여

초록

This study classified YouTube content posted by politicians during the election period by appeal type and analyzed differences in user engagement across these categories. Specifically, a content analysis was conducted on 376 YouTube videos posted by 35 candidates running in the 22nd National Assembly election in Busan to identify appeal types and examine whether user engagement indicators differed by type. The analysis showed that politicians’ YouTube content fell into five appeal categories: “Politician Media Appearances,” “Official Campaign Advertisements,” “Face-to-Face Campaign Activities,” “Policy Promotion Videos,” and “Campaign Music Videos.” The results further indicated that the types of content posted varied according to politicians’ ideological orientation and that, as election day approached, videos emphasizing a positive candidate image increased relative to policy-focused content. Moreover, the study found that users showed relatively low levels of engagement with policy promotion videos, whereas they actively engaged with face-to-face campaign activity videos that emphasized interaction and on-the-ground contact. These findings suggest that, during election campaigns on YouTube, strategies that highlight candidate image, proximity, and experiential aspects of campaigning may be more effective in eliciting user engagement than the straightforward provision of policy information. Overall, the study contributes to research on political communication in a digital environment by demonstrating how different appeal types are unequally rewarded by user behavior and by underscoring the importance of tailoring campaign content to the interactive and affective affordances of social media platforms.

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