Sweet-talkers and Internet trolls : An analysis of six Hungarian female politicians’ Facebook comment section

Abstract

Being present on social media platforms has become an advantage for politicians as they aspire to be relatable and likable in the eyes of the voters. Their active participation leads to the odd phenomenon of receiving compliments, while also receiving a large amount of insults in the form of comments. In general, women are the main receivers of online compliments and these compliments mostly focus on appearance (Maíz-Arévalo & García-Gómez 2013). However, in the case of female politicians a compliment on their appearance is not necessarily a propitious speech act and can have an inverse effect, such as destructing cognitive performance in the long run (Kahalon, Shnabel & Becker 2018). The aim of the study is to investigate the Facebook comment section of six Hungarian female politicians from different parties, analyse, and determine the distribution of compliments and insults that they receive. Results show that the number and types of compliments and insults each politician receives can differ, as they are mostly personalized, but identifiable trends were observed. Factors such as the degree of activity, extent of media coverage, position and participation in international politics and party affiliation could play a role in the number of insults a female politician receives online. In total, the examined female politicians received more insults than compliments.