Like or dislike: German electioneering on social media
Rayna Breuer
September 14, 2021
From using influencers to posting on TikTok, German political parties are attempting to reach out to voters on social media in a variety of ways. Will they succeed?
Image: Imago/xim.gs
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Juicy bratwurst, free beer and energetic speeches: These traditional tools for mobilizing German voters have been largely missing from the federal election campaign due to the pandemic.
Instead of speaking in crowded public spaces in the lead-up to the September 26 poll, Germany's political parties have instead been hunting for votes on the internet, and especially social media.
The shift online might have been accelerated by the coronavirus; but parties today need to build campaigns around social media platforms via which the electorate is just a click away.
A 2020 study by the Leibniz Institute for Media Research shows that 37% percent of respondents used social media to get their news — up from 34% the year before. The percentage is much higher among 18-24 year olds, 56% of whom stay up-to-date online.
Targeting older voters on established platforms
Germany is not exactly known for being a front-runner in digital innovation. In terms of broadband access, digitalization or technical equipment in schools, Germany is merely average, according to the EU Digital Economy and Society Index.
During the US presidential election in 2008, Barack Obama's team was already focusing on a digital election campaign. He became the first Black president and was later dubbed the "first social media president" due to his campaign's widespread use of platforms like Twitter and Facebook to connect with voters.
Yet in Germany during the last election in 2017, some candidates had a very limited social media presence. That is finally changing as candidates upgrade their social media profiles and post frequently across a variety of platforms.
Political consultant and media expert Martin Fuchs says parties need to find unique methods to reach votersImage: Privat
Some German politicians are even reaching voters via the relatively new TikTok platform. The CSU (Christian Social Union) party posted a video on the platform featuring party leader Markus Söder talking about his favorite films and how he likes to eat Nutella. It succeeded in generating attention among the platform's predominantly younger users.
But not all politicians are embracing TikTok due to its poor reputation for "data leakage," according to social media expert and political consultant, Martin Fuchs.
"Even though it is often said that young voters are important, they are almost irrelevant to the election campaign and election outcome," he said. "There is greater potential to mobilize people over age 50 because they have a higher voter turnout and there are more of them."
It partly explains why most parties rely on tried-and-tested platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
But Fuchs sees the need for more innovative methods. "The SPD has built a community on messenger service Telegram, with audio and video content — it's a good example of dialogue-based community involvement."
Social media influencers sway voters
Both the far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany) and the SPD (Social Democrats) are using the voices of social media influencers as part of their election campaign strategies.
Martin Fuchs says the AfD promotes "young users who are pro-AfD and speak out against the Greens, and they are very successful with it. "
Election posters: German politics over the years
From the specter of communism to the dread of nuclear war to the COVID pandemic: how election posters reflect the issues of our time.
Image: Heinz-Jürgen Göttert/dpa/picture alliance
The 1940s — Reconstruction
After the Second World War, Germany lay in ruins. Many things had to be rebuilt — including the political party landscape. When the first Bundestag or Parliament was formed in 1949, none of the parties could secure a third of the public votes. Coalitions had to be formed. The issues, however, were similar: reconstruction, economic integration, and the desire for a united Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/Bildarchiv
Socialism: an obvious enemy
The election promise of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), whose leader Konrad Adenauer became the first German chancellor in 1949, was "construction and work" instead of "bureaucracy and a regulated economy." The latter two were the campaign platforms of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which in the years after 1945 focused on a regulated, planned economy.
Image: picture-alliance/U. Baumgarten
The 1950s — stability and recovery
Besides wanting peace and security, the parties in the 1950s focused on economic recovery. Here, the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) warns against the influence of the Soviet Union. SPD candidate Erich Ollenhauer is portrayed as a puppet of the USSR. A rather anti-communist climate was common at the time, which also resulted in the reelection of the conservative Adenauer in 1953.
Image: picture-alliance/U. Baumgarten
'Daddy is mine on Saturdays'
By the mid-1950s, the economy had recovered. People were hopeful about a bright future, and this was also reflected in the birth rate that increased 30% between 1953 and 1963. At the same time, the unions demanded more rights for employees. With the video "Saturdays belong to Daddy," they began to fight for a five-day week in 1956.
Image: Archiv für christlich-soziale Politik
The 1960s — The Wall and Willy Brandt
First war, then reconstruction, and finally the building of the Wall: within just one and a half decades, the society in the Federal Republic underwent a transformation that permanently changed its attitude to life and its value system. Willy Brandt's candidacy (SPD) in 1961 heralded a change in policy, but first the CDU's Adenauer made it again into the chancellor's office.
Image: picture-alliance/Bildarchiv
"Prosperity for All"
Ludwig Erhard, the "father of the social market economy," is elected to the highest office in 1963. His liberal-conservative course and his promise of "prosperity for all" seemed to go down just as well with voters as the "housewife idyll" suggested by the CDU's election campaign in this picture.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
The 1970s: 'Ostpolitik' and Internal Security
In the 1970s, terrorist attacks by extreme left-wing groups, especially the RAF, had a significant impact on the sociopolitical climate. The parties focus on the issue of "internal security." Willy Brandt of the SPD is voted chancellor. He also advocates understanding with Eastern Europe, for which he receives the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.
Image: Imago
Women's movement and pro-environment protests
From the mid-1970s onward, the Federal Republic is dominated by change. More and more women demand greater equality. The CDU jumps on this bandwagon for its 1976 election campaign. In the same year, a protest movement also forms against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Brokdorf and the planned nuclear repository in Gorleben. The call for a political alternative grows louder.
Image: CC BY-SA/Plakat- und Film-Archiv der CDU
The 1980s — Fear of Nuclear War
The Green Party is founded in 1980 and three years later, its members make it into the Bundestag for the first time with their top candidate, Joschka Fischer (right). The mood in the Federal Republic at this time is characterized by fear of nuclear war and protests against the planned NATO rearmament. The peace movement becomes the largest mass movement in the history of the Federal Republic.
Image: picture-alliance / dpa
The 1990s — Reunification
The year 1990 marked an important year in German history. The reunification of the former east and west Germany on October 3, 1990, was followed two months later by the first united German federal election. Helmut Kohl of the CDU once again received the approval of the voters — he would remain in office as the "Chancellor of Unity" for a total of 16 years.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Political tensions
The 1990s were a politically turbulent decade. In 1992, Hoyerswerda and Rostock became synonymous worldwide with a new German nationalism. In Hoyerswerda, a home for asylum seekers was set on fire, with fatal results. In the left-wing camp, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) is formed, and enters the Bundestag in the early 1990s with top candidate Gregor Gysi (photo).
Image: dpa-Zentralbild/picture alliance
The 2000s — Germany has a female chancellor
In 2005, Angela Merkel became the first woman to head the Federal Republic of Germany. She took over from the SPD's Gerhard Schröder. Both the CDU politician and the 2006 World Cup helped improve Germany's image abroad. The following year was all about the European Union, which celebrated its 50th anniversary during Germany's EU Council presidency.
Image: Stefan Sauer/dpa/picture alliance
The 2010s — nuclear phase-out and conscription
Following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2022. By 2050, the supply is to be covered entirely by renewable energies. At the beginning of the decade, compulsory military service was also suspended. Henceforth, there would be a purely professional army. Chancellor Merkel is voted into office again in 2013.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Revierfoto
Migration and the fear of terror
2015 will go down in history as the year of the refugee crisis. People from war zones in Africa and the Middle East sought refuge in Europe. Germany took in around one million refugees. The following year, an Islamist terrorist attack shook Berlin. Right-wing parties gained ground again throughout Europe; in Germany, the right-wing Alternative ffor Germany (AfD) increasingly secures votes.
Image: Getty Images/S. Gallup
The 2020s — The Decade of Crises?
The COVID-19 pandemic becomes THE topic in Germany in the early 2020s, raising many questions for politics and society: How can we have better health care? How well should people in the caring professions be paid in future? How can further crises be avoided? All these issues are dominating the current federal election campaign.
Image: Sebastian Gabsch/Geisler-Fotopress/picture alliance
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The SPD has been utlizing 20-year-old Instagram influencer Lilly Blaudszun, who has 20k followers as of the last count. She posts photos of herself with prominent SPD politicians and weaves in lighter topics, including a humorous video about bad summer weather in Germany.
But Fuchs points out that campaigns must exist in both the offline and online realms to be successful. "In 2021, no election campaign will work that doesn't think in both worlds," he said.
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AfD: 'First real digital party in Germany'
AfD candidate Alice Weidel has more than 23,000 subscribers on YouTube, while at the other end of the political sprectrum, Green Party candidate Annalena Baerbock has only around 800 subscribers — as opposed to her near 300,000 followers on Instagram, indicating her popularity with younger voters.
How the far-right AfD created such a successful online community, especially on established platforms like Facebook, was the subject of a study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in 2019 on the occasion of the European elections, and which Martin Fuchs worked on.
"The AfD is the first real digital party in Germany." he said.
"It had no real infrastructure when it was founded, it had no back rooms, no district associations and so on, and Facebook provided it with the infrastructure," he explained. "That means anyone who wanted to move up in the party had to be on Facebook, so the community grew relatively quickly because people in the party spent a lot of time on these platforms."
Candidate Annalena Baerbock (center) has a large social media following on Instagram, but not on YouTubeImage: SvenSimon/dpa/picture alliance
Reaching a specific target group
In contrast to campaigning on posters or on TV in an attempt to reach a large audience, microtargeting is a data-mining technique that lets candidates reach a select group of people online.
In the month leading up to the previous US election, for example, the Donald Trump campaign spent almost $1 million a day on such advertising, and focused on voters in a select group of states.
While platforms such as TikTok or Instagram do not allow this type of political advertising, Facebook offers ideal conditions for microtargeting. This is due to its algorithm, which categorizes users according to age, gender and interests to effectively place election advertising.
Microtargeting is also practiced in Germany, but not to the same extent as in the US.
Parties in Germany have drawn up a kind of fairness agreement they does not allow specific targeting, explained Fuchs. He himself does not believe, however, "that microtargeting does not have a big impact in mobilizing people."
Either way, whether via Facebook ads, a podcast or influencer posts on Instagram, all parties are currently utilizing diverse digital platforms to court voters leading up to September 26.
This article was translated from German by Sarah Hucal.
