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Political Public Relations and Digital Vote

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Political Public Relations and Digital Vote Mukda Pratheepwatanawong Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2017 Acknowledgements My Ph.D. research and thesis writing took much longer than expected. With all the different challenges I went through in this Ph.D. journey, I will never forget anyone who has helped or guided me throughout this journey and made my Ph.D. thesis a possible one. I could not say enough to thank both my Ph.D. supervisors, Dr. Tessa Houghton and Dr. Michael Connors, who spent the last few years saving my Ph.D. Both supervisors provided continuous guidance, feedback and constructive criticisms throughout my Ph.D. study. I used to be totally lost in my research and spent hours and days either staring at the wall in my room or my laptop screen. Through regular Ph.D. meetings with both supervisors, they brought my research back on track. Without their supervision, it would be impossible for me to turn the research ideas that I once wrote on a piece of recycle paper into this Ph.D. thesis. As a research student who did not have any connection with Thai politicians and political party, I really appreciate people who have allowed me to interview them in this research. Interviewees who agreed to be interviewed in this research have provided valuable data, which was another major motivation for me to finish my Ph.D. I hope the contribution of knowledge made in this thesis will be useful for Thai political figures and public relations personnel who use social networking sites for political communication and election campaign. Thank you to The University of Nottingham for funding my Ph.D. study. My appreciation also goes to the Head of School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Dr. Sean Mathews, in accepting my Ph.D. transfer from China campus to Malaysia campus and giving me the opportunity to prove myself. I would also like to thank Dr. Adrian Headland who was supervising me during my first year of Ph.D. study in China campus. Since I moved to Nottingham Malaysia campus, many friends have been helping me to settle down and would always be available to give all kinds of advice. Thank you Ms Ying Ying Ng, David Chek Ling Ngo, Man Ju Lin and her dad (Hsi Chuan Lin), Lay Hong Chuah, Jing Zhang, César Dario Velandia, Woon Chin Yeong, Bencharat Chua, Boon Shan Liow and Tze Yi Tay for all your help and friendship. 1 Most of the content in this thesis has been proofread by Alec Bamford, whom I am also grateful to. Finally, thank you to my family, especially my parents, for their love, understanding and extra financial support provided to me during my Ph.D. study. My family has been very supportive and patient in giving and doing anything they could to let me make progress and concentrate on finishing my Ph.D. My siblings were always organising holidays for me so that I could enjoy my Ph.D. life. Thank you very much. 2 Abstract Social networking sites (SNSs) are an emerging channel of political mediation in Thailand for political figures to establish and develop their relationships with Thai citizens. Through focusing on the online political public relations work by candidates (and their teams) in the 2013 Bangkok gubernatorial election campaign, this thesis contributes a Thai perspective and experience to the growing literature on the use of SNSs globally in election campaigning. This research utilises multimodal textual analysis and interviews with Thai politicians, candidates and public relations personnel to explore the management of candidates’ images on Facebook via photographs, text and interactions, the management relationship between candidates and public relations personnel and citizens, the dynamics of what can be understood as ‘digital vote-canvassing networks’, and the various associated possibilities and challenges of using SNSs to contest for political power in the Thai context. This thesis finds that the political public relations work carried out via Facebook during the 2013 election campaign constituted a new and complex process of managing content and of managing human resources and relationships. The construction of candidates’ political images integrated existing Thai archetypes and connotations with more global images and strategies. The publication of campaign content on Facebook over the entire election campaign was managed to facilitate followers’ interpretations of the candidates’ campaigns. Election campaigns on Facebook developed digital vote- canvassing networks as candidates and their teams used different tactics to engage, interact with and manage citizens, as well as attempt to maximise the ‘spreadability’ of their content and thus extend their reach. As candidates campaigned on Facebook under election campaign rules not defined particularly for Facebook, the decentralisation of interaction among Facebook users was a major concern in controlling their election campaign on Facebook. 3 Glossary Digital vote-canvassing network: A term coined in this thesis. A digital vote-canvassing network is a network connecting Facebook users based on Facebook algorithms and the interaction on a candidate’s status update. Digital vote-canvassing networks are established and developed as a result of the media affordance of Facebook in relation to the traditional vote-canvassing systems in Thai political culture and two-step flow communication. Vote-canvassing systems become ‘digital’ when a candidate’s public relations personnel act as core vote-canvassers to manage and transmit campaign messages on the candidate’s Facebook page on behalf of the candidate, while the candidate’s followers interact and spread the candidate’s campaign message to their own networks, enabling more SNSs users to be exposed to the campaign content. The core idea of digital vote-canvassing networks is to make campaign messages on SNSs reach as many SNS users as possible. Nakleng: A person who can be characterised brave and confident in the way he/she speaks, makes decision or behaves. Nakleng keyboard: This term can be translated as ‘keyboard warrior’, referring to someone who hides his real identity or uses pseudonyms in order to be express their thoughts online. In the context of political communication online, a ‘nakleng keyboard’ tends to give unconstructive criticism on other people’s SNS pages in order to challenge the SNS user’s image. Phakphuak: A group of people who are related based on the same interest. Phi nong: Elder (phi) and younger (nong) siblings. Phudi: A person who has a good family background and/or has good manners. 4 Contents Chapter 1 : Introduction ............................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2 : Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 40 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 40 2.1. Using social networking sites for political purposes............................................................... 41 2.1.1. Features and functions of social networking sites ............................................................ 41 2.1.2. Political public relations ................................................................................................. 44 2.1.3. Role of public relations personnel in engaging with followers on SNSs .......................... 50 2.2. Types of visual image of candidates ...................................................................................... 56 2.2.1. Frames of visual images during election campaigns ........................................................ 56 2.2.2. Image in Thai political culture ........................................................................................ 58 2.3. Interaction and spreadability of content ................................................................................. 62 2.3.1. Defining ‘interaction’ ..................................................................................................... 63 2.3.2. Interaction and spreadable content: traditional two-step flow of communication and vote- canvassing systems .................................................................................................................. 66 2.3.3. Regulation and interaction as a challenge to image management ..................................... 71 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 76 Chapter 3 : Data Collection and Research Methods .................................................................... 78 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 78 3.1. Multimodal analysis .............................................................................................................. 80 3.1.1. Content analysis ............................................................................................................. 81 3.1.2. Semiotics analysis .......................................................................................................... 86 3.2. Elite interviews ..................................................................................................................... 87 3.2.1. Interview sample ............................................................................................................ 88 3.2.2. Interview procedure
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