"I love it when you tell me about your weekend, Mr. President": A qualitative study of the reception of personalized political communication on social media

Abstract

The personalization of political communication has intensified in recent years, particularly on social media, where politicians increasingly expose their personal lives. This development raises questions about its democratic implications and makes it necessary to analyze how citizens receive and process such content. However, reception studies in this field rarely simultaneously consider socio-cognitive processing, the affective evaluations that may result from it, and interindividual differences. Based on thirty semi-structured interviews conducted in France, the findings highlight a three-step process of reception: reaction to personalized political content, reaction to the encouragement to establish a parasocial relationship, and, finally, the evaluation of the politician. Additionally, the study identifies three categories of receivers, differentiated by the degree of sacralization attributed to the political function. Affective receivers mainly rely on heuristic processing, accept personalization, and integrate it positively into their evaluations. Indifferent receivers favor central processing based on political arguments and distance themselves from personalization. Institutional receivers combine central and heuristic processing but reject personalization, which they perceive as a devaluation of the political function. By emphasizing the diversity of reception processes, this research invites a nuanced interpretation of the links between personalized political communication on social media and democracy.