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The 10n 2019 general elections debate on RTVE social media

Abstract:

Social media have become an essential means of transmitting information and have transformed the concept of political communication, enabling new audiences to easily select any topic. This has allowed both public and private television networks to provide multiscreen coverage of electoral campaigns while encouraging conversation and debate among users. The content of RTVE’s social networks before, during, and after the televised electoral debate on 4 November 2019 (before the general election of 10 November 2019) was analyzed. The presence of conversation and interaction among the audiences was also examined, namely that originating from the general Facebook and Twitter accounts of RTVE’s social media (La 1 de TVE, La 2 de TVE, RTVE, Canal 24 Horas, and TVE Internacional). Additionally, those showing specifically informative content (Telediario de TVE and Los desayunos de TVE) were also scrutinized. After extracting the publications, those that both related to the debate and generated significant user engagement were selected to com-pare the topics from the televised debate with other topics that were most widely featured on social media. The results revealed that much more content and a higher level of interest in the debate were found on Twitter accounts, while Facebook was the most neglected by the television station. The RTVE and Canal 24h channels topped the list for both social networks, as did the news broadcast on Twitter in terms of specific content related to the debate, compared with the general interest accounts owned by the television station. Furthermore, the irrelevance of the content broadcast on social media becomes apparent through the lack of dialog and interaction between the audience and accounts. Moreo-ver, the marginal flow of “debate on debate” among the users is evident.