Presidential candidates’ Facebook practices during the 2017 French presidential campaign

Résumé 0

‪In this article we explore the temporal dynamics of the 2017 digital French presidential campaign on Facebook with regard to five candidates: Benoît Hamon, François Fillon, Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. We then analyze the ethos and the rhetorical strategies of each candidate. Our results show a lack of uniformity in electoral approaches, with each candidate’s Facebook page reflecting on-the-ground activities and media appearances to varying degrees. While digital communication is instrumental in highlighting each candidate’s political program and persona, it also facilitates the spread of negative publicity. The strategies for seeking voters’ support are diverse, but the relative importance given to each differs significantly among the candidates.‪