Abstract

POSLIGUA QUINDE, Isabel  and  RAMIREZ RODRIGUEZ, Marlon. Political communication and social networks. The influence of the TikTok community on public opinion. Ñawi [online]. 2024, vol.8, n.1, pp.285-300. ISSN 2588-0934.  https://doi.org/10.37785/nw.v8n1.a15.

This article analyzes political communication and its influence on public opinion in the TikTok community. The research aims to study the political communication in the social network TikTok of former presidential candidates Guillermo Lasso and Andrés Arauz in the Ecuadorian elections of 2021, and how such communication influenced the public opinion of young users in the General Enríquez Gallo neighborhood of La Libertad canton (Ecuador). The aim is to examine political communication strategies, and to identify the factors of public opinion that influence and determine the advantages generated by implementing strategies in the social network TikTok for the formation of public opinion. The results obtained show that the content disseminated on TikTok was more oriented to infotainment, aiming to captivate the attention of young people, reaching the notoriety of the candidates. However, it lacked substantial and structured political communication for the formation of public opinion in the TikTok community.

Keywords : Ecuador; political communication; public opinion; social networks; TikTok.