Over the past forty years, marked by profound and rapid social and technological evolution, political leadership has undergone radical transformations: it has transformed into digital leadership. The progressive individualization and digitalization of society have redefined the relationship between political institutions and citizens, giving rise to a dynamic characterized by growing distrust of those represented in their own governments. Let's take a closer look.
Personalization and digitalization of politics
Faced with these changes, politics has responded with two specific processes. The first is the " personalization of politics " (Calise et al., 2021), in which the leader is placed at the center of political parties' offerings, replacing the now outdated ideologies of the twentieth century. The second, however, is the " digitalization of politics " (Ibid.), which has seen information and communication technologies (ICT) emerge as a tool for addressing the critical issues inherent in democratic regimes. Although these changes have profoundly transformed representative and executive institutions, the crisis of democracy continues to expand. Politics' latest response to this crisis is the emergence of new protagonists, chronically active in both physical and hypermedia environments: digital leaders, also known as " platform leaders " (Nunziata, 2021).
The essence of the platform leader and digital leadership
In this tortuous context, the platform leader distinguishes himself through the combination of a systematic use of digital media and the use of charismatic and dialectical skills, with the aim of mending the relationship between politics and civil society. What differentiates this form of leadership from previous ones is not only the use of digital channels to communicate with citizens—or rather, with user-citizens—but also the ability to escape the constraints of party leadership. This emancipation conflicts with traditional "legal-rational leadership" (Gerbaudo, 2020), where the leader's power is legitimized only by the party to which he belongs.
In contrast, the digital leader asserts himself through "Caesaristic leadership" (Ibid.), imposing his own vision of reality, gaining popularity, and establishing direct connections with followers. The latter, often without any representative representatives, find in digital leaders an indispensable point of reference. And it is precisely through this disintermediated relationship with the digital public that platform leaders are able to legitimize their power.
In short, digital leadership represents the link between the two sociopolitical processes mentioned above: the digitalization and the personalization of politics . To assert itself in the digital ecosystem, platform leaders adopt a series of rhetorical strategies, including visual storytelling, microtargeting, the popularization of political communication, and computational propaganda. Let's explore each of these strategies in detail.
Visual storytelling of digital leadership
All leaders, past and present, have always relied on narratives and stories to establish themselves within a community or target audience. Through these, the leader projects an imagery capable of mobilizing the community or people they address. However, the digital leader, while relying on traditional narratives, distinguishes itself by introducing visual storytelling , a form of narration conveyed through images that first emerged in the television medium but reaches its peak through digital platforms.
Visual storytelling proves to be an impactful rhetorical tool for two reasons. First, it allows leaders to expand their physical presence across multiple media , encouraging citizen-user identification. Furthermore, images are powerful tools for disseminating political content widely and stimulating the instinctive and emotional reactions that dominate social media interactions. This dynamic fuels social engagement , a key metric for measuring user engagement with content shared by digital leaders.
This strategy is frequently employed by Giuseppe Conte, former Prime Minister and current leader of the Five Star Movement. His social media feed is peppered with images and videos of himself in both institutional settings and more informal engagements with voters.
The digital leader as a pop phenomenon
The platform leader often conveys narratives using his or her own personal story or by integrating references to elements belonging to popular culture, a process defined by Mazzoleni and Bracciale (2019) as the popularization of political communication . This phenomenon is inherited from the politainment that emerged in television schedules at the end of the twentieth century. The digital leader plays the role of an entertainer who constructs content aimed at making his or her political messages more accessible and enjoyable for a wider audience.
A tool that embodies the essence of this process is the political meme , a digital artifact that, through a process of redefining contemporary issues, combines elements of popular culture with political elements. Digital leaders include memes in their editorial plans because they allow them to propagate their political messages indirectly, i.e., to implement propaganda concealed by the irony typical of pop culture. This strategy works because the message doesn't appear to have persuasive intent and therefore appears credible in the eyes of the user-citizen.
A recent example is the political slogan, which later became a catchphrase on social media: "I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian, you cannot take this away from me." This slogan contributed to Giorgia Meloni's rise in popularity.
Big Data: The cornerstone of digital political communication
To build coherent and effective communication, a digital leader requires a large communications team behind them. These professionals analyze Big Data , large amounts of data obtained from the digital footprints left by users. This analysis allows for the profiling of user-citizens, which is the basis of the microtargeting strategy , adopted with the aim of distributing personalized content that can stimulate the most intense emotional states of specific audiences.
The other strategy based on Big Data analysis is computational propaganda , integrated into the classic propaganda campaign with the aim of attacking political opponents, stirring up the electorate and convincing the undecided through the use of bots, trolls and nano-influencers who contribute to fueling the proliferation of disinformation and fake news.
The “Beast of Salvini” fully represents the implementation of these strategies, it corresponds to the computational propaganda machine adopted by Matteo Salvini and his communications team, which contributed to his political and hypermedia rise particularly in the 2018 national elections and the 2019 European elections (Florio, 2022).
Lights and shadows of a disruptive phenomenon
Coming to the final stages, it is appropriate to ask a final question: what does the digital leader actually give back to user-citizens and what are the consequences for democratic regimes?
Undoubtedly, the relationship between leaders and citizens has changed. Today, individual voters can more frequently learn what their leaders are doing, saying, and promising, and also have the opportunity to engage with them directly. In theory, this aspect seems to have strengthened the bond between politics and civil society. However, in practice, this claim cannot be definitively proven.
Does digital leadership have a root of incivility?
Digital leaders' communication, often characterized by a " politics of incivility " (Bentivegna and Rega, 2022), characterized by fake news and aggressive accusations against political opponents, has contributed to the proliferation of highly polarized electoral contests. This has undermined public and democratic dialogue.
The question therefore remains as to the actual contribution of digital leadership to solving the problems plaguing democratic regimes. Only a deeper understanding of this expanding phenomenon and proper regulation of public dialogue can ensure a balance between innovation and democratic values.
Antonio Russo
References
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- Gerbaudo, P. (2020). Digital Parties: Political Organization in the Platform EraThe Mill.
- Florio, F. (2022). The secrets of "The Beast": how Morisi's Lega social media popularity factory works.. Available on: https://www.open.online/2021/09/28/caso-morisi-la-bestia-come-funziona/
- Mazzoleni, G., & Bracciale, R. (2019). Pop Politics Online: Memes and the New Challenges of Political Communication. the Mill.
- Mete, V. (2022). Anti-Politics: Protagonists and Forms of a Widespread HostilityThe Mill.
- Moroni, C. (2019). Politics becomes image: The visual narrative of the political leader. H-hermes. Journal of Communication, 2019(15), pp. 185-228.
- Nunziata, F. (2021). The platform leader. Digital Politics Magazine, 1(1), p. 127-146.
- Ventura, S. (2019). Leaders and Their Stories: Storytelling, Political Communication, and the Crisis of Democracy. the Mill.
- Woolley, S. C., & Howard, P. N. (2018). Computational propaganda: Political parties, politicians, and political manipulation on social media.Oxford University Press.
