Posted: April 24th, 2025

How is authenticity used as part of political public relations strategy? Consider the stylistic features of authenticity, platform affordances, and the efficacy of this approach in your answer.

Political communication via social media often seeks to use “authenticity” as a type of political currency to influence voters ( Enli, 2015; Enli & Rosenberg, 2018; Highfield, 2017; Hobbs & Allen, 2023; McTernan, 2024)

Enli, G. (2015). “Trust Me, I Am Authentic!” Authenticity Illusions in Social Media Politics. In The Routledge companion to social media and politics: Routledge.

Enli, G., & Rosenberg, L. T. (2018). Trust in the age of social media: Populist politicians seem more authentic. Social Media + Society, 4(1), 1–9.

https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118764430Links to an external site.

Highfield, T. (2017). Social media and everyday politics. John Wiley & Sons.

Hobbs, M. J., & Allen, P. (2023). Political public relations, leadership, and COVID-19: A comparative assessment of Prime Ministers Ardern and Morrison on Facebook and Twitter. Public Relations Review, 49(2), 102326.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102326

McTernan, C. (2024). Politics of the gut: Comparative content analysis of Australian political Facebook posts using authenticity and populist frameworks. Communication Research and Practice, pp. 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2024.2347689