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| Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the leading presidential contender of the main opposition People Power Party, has created an account for his pet dog Tory, in which he uploads photos of Tory and his other pets, often featuring Yoon together with them. Captured from Instagram account tory.stagram |
Critics say presidential hopefuls not engaging actively enough on social media
By Jung Da-min
With the competition to win Cheong Wa Dae heating up, presidential contenders of the ruling and opposition parties have been jumping on the bandwagon of using various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, sharing their personal selves in a bid to create an image friendly to the public.
The presidential election to pick President Moon Jae-in’s successor is scheduled for March 9, 2022.
Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the leading presidential contender of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), and former Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) Chairman Choe Jae-hyeong, another presidential hopeful of the PPP, both created accounts on Facebook and Instagram recently to appeal to voters.
Yoon even created a separate account for Tory, his pet dog, to upload photos of Tory and his other pets, occasionally featuring Yoon spending time with them. Yoon has a total of seven pets ― four dogs and three cats.
As for Choe’s social media activity, he’s been uploading photos of himself spending time with family members and old pictures of himself.
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| Former Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choe Jae-hyeong, a presidential contender of the main opposition People Power Party, created a Facebook account in late July, in an effort to appeal to members of the public. Captured from Choe Jae-hyeong’s Facebook |
Among presidential contenders of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), former DPK Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon has been drawing attention on Instagram for sharing “Suk-hee’s Diary,” his life story told in cartoon format from the perspective of his wife Kim Suk-hee.
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| An Instagram post of a cartoon from the “Suk-hee’s Diary” cartoon series, telling the life story of former ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon, a presidential contender of the DPK, from the perspective of his wife Kim Suk-hee. Captured from Lee Nak-yon’s Instagram |
Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Rep. Park Yong-jin, also presidential contenders of the DPK, have also received attention for creating TikTok accounts in which they have revealed videos of themselves dancing in an attempt to appeal to young voters.
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| Rep. Park Yong-jin, a presidential contender of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, recently received attention for creating a TikTok account in an attempt to appeal to young voters. Captured from Park Yong-jin’s TikTok |
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| Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, a presidential contender of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, recently received attention for creating a TikTok account in an attempt to appeal to young voters. Captured from Chung Sye-kyun’s TikTok account |
Five-term lawmaker Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential hopeful of the PPP, has about 443,000 subscribers for his YouTube Channel “TV Hongcacola.” Hong’s YouTube channel has caught on with Hong’s straightforward and witty comments on political and social issues, and he is beating other presidential contenders in terms of YouTube channel subscribers.
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| Five-term lawmaker Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential hopeful of the main opposition People Power Party, has over 443,000 subscribers for his YouTube Channel “TV Hongcacola,” more than any other presidential contenders. Captured from YouTube |
Gyeonggi Provincial Governor Lee Jae-myung, the leading presidential contender of the DPK, has also drawn popularity with his straightforwardness when talking about thorny social issues and strong policies, often through social media. But political watchers say the governor has seemed relatively less active on social media platforms in recent days as he is trying to defend his position as the leading presidential contender of the ruling bloc.
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| The Facebook page of Gyeonggi Provincial Governor Lee Jae-myung, the leading presidential contender of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. / Captured from Facebook |
While presidential hopefuls of both the ruling and opposition blocs have engaged in various online activities in a bid to appeal to the general public, critics said their strategies are not yielding positive effects. Critics said the essential function of social media is a direct communication between users, but most of the presidential contenders are failing to engage in direct communication with members of the public, as they are not familiar with the platforms and created accounts hurriedly only for the presidential election.
“Utilizing social media platforms to appeal to voters is a global trend, as seen in the past U.S. presidential election in which former U.S. President Donald Trump actively used his social media accounts to directly issue his messages. When many media outlets were hostile to Trump, he overwhelmed them by utilizing new media,” political commentator Choi Young-il said.
“But in Korea’s politics, there are few politicians who are making full use of social media platforms. Young politicians like PPP leader Lee Jun-seok are active social media users, but most veteran politicians are still not familiar with such online platforms.”
Choi also said most of the presidential contenders come across as awkward in their attempts to pander to voters through social media.
“Not many politicians have shown their personal side while emphasizing formal and official images. As they hurry to create familiar images ahead of the election, such images come across as unnatural to the public,” he said.
Political commentator Lee Jong-hoon said the most important factor to succeed in image promotion through social media platforms is to communicate directly with users, but many presidential contenders are failing to do so, adding that they usually leave social media activities to be run by aides within their election camps on their behalf.
“Many young people use social media for the purpose of communication. In such a context, presidential contenders need to show a quick response to comments from members of the public on their accounts, but as they are not running their accounts by themselves, they are either not showing any response or responding too late for comments left by social media users,” Lee said.
Presidential hopefuls’ social media strategies falling flat
Source: Buhay Kapa PH
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