Pics or It Didn't Happen: Analyzing Facebook Photographs of Romanian Women Politicians

In today’s communication reality, social media gain greater importance in all types of marketing purposes. Following this line of thought, political branding could benefit from the rise of social networks that promote more authenticity in relationships, due to their unmediated quality. Therefore, we explore the possibility of a more personable display of information through photographs on the Facebook pages of three Romanian women politicians – Elena Udrea, Alina Gorghiu and Oana Niculescu-Mizil. Preliminary findings indicate that politicians mostly use Facebook photographs to focus mainly on their official position and professional activities, not on personal angles of their lives, thus not making a clear distinction between the opportunities offered by traditional media versus social media, particularly Facebook.