Recent public surveys highlight political parties as the least trusted state institution among the public. This erosion of trust can fuel anti-party sentiments, potentially hindering political parties from effectively serving as channels and political engines for community aspirations.
Responding to this reality, five students from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) embarked on research to investigate an alternative approach for political parties to counter anti-party sentiments.
Irvan Fadhil (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, 2021), Arya Kamajaya (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, 2021), Agung Krisna (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, 2021), Firman Al-Khawarismi (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, 2021), and Najzwa Hanifah (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, 2021) focused their research on the communication strategy of the Gerindra Party on social media platform X.
“We chose to examine the Gerindra Party’s communication style on platform X because it tends to adopt a more relaxed and humorous tone,” explained Agung Krisna.
Utilizing big data, the research involved data crawling on platform X using specific keywords over eight months from Aug. 17, 2022, to Apr. 30, 2023.
“Our findings revealed that netizens positively received the Gerindra Party’s political communication style on platform X,” he disclosed.
Of the 2,633 tweets collected during the eight months, 54.98% (1,464) conveyed positive sentiments, 40.67% (1,083) were neutral, and only 4.36% (116) expressed negative sentiments. These results conclusively demonstrate the effectiveness of social media, particularly platform X, in reducing anti-party sentiments.
“From this, it can be seen that netizens like the political communication style of the Gerindra Party on X,” Krisna elaborated.
Moreover, he highlighted that the party’s relaxed and amicable communication strategy on platform X captivated netizens’ interest and garnered predominantly positive sentiments towards the Gerindra Party.
Meanwhile, Irvan Fadhil emphasized that the research outcomes signify a shift in Indonesian society’s perception of political parties, with netizens feeling increasingly connected to political institutions.
“Other political parties can learn from this approach or explore alternative methods to bridge the gap between them and the community, thereby eliminating the stigma of the public feeling distant from political parties,” he added.
This research was made possible through the Afan Gaffar Awards 2023 research grant program organized by the Department of Politics and Government, UGM Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, under the theme of Strengthening Democracy in Indonesia.
The program, a collaborative effort between the Department of Politics and Government and alumni, aims to foster a culture of research among students.
Author and Photographer: Agung Krisna
Editor: Ika