By weighing data extracted during the 2016 municipal election in Costa Rica from local-level political parties’ Facebook
pages the research elaborates an analysis based on the mobilization – normalization theses. From that perspective, the paper identifies the traits that characterize each party’s communicational emphasis, specifically on whether such sites promote or limit deliberative behaviors amongst each page’s subscriber/follower. Thus, by analyzing posting frequency, content and overall response (likes, comments, sharing) trends, it is shown how the electoral success of some parties may be – partially- explained by their online activity. Also, by identifying and classifying the types of contents posted, the study focuses on generating a content typology (v.g. photo posts, text statuses,  video posts, etc.). This content taxonomy displays the kind of traits each content type signifies in terms of political (and digital) engagement. This typology presents three major categories: Informative parties, Self-promotional parties and Interactive-driven parties. Although the three categories aren’t entirely exclusive, they imply specific characteristics.

Published in: International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2016)

• Date of Conference: 10-13 October 2016
• DOI: 10.2053/iSociety.2016.0031
• ISBN: 978-1-908320-62-9
• Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland