Grayling has presented the first pan-European study on how politicians use social media. Nearly 3 million posts published in 2020 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by parliamentarians from 17 European countries, including Poland, were analysed by gender, age and party affiliation.

“The Grayling study allows us, for the first time, to comprehensively analyse trends among politicians on social media and to use hard data to confirm popular theses such as the greater popularity of Twitter in the world of politics. Some of the results, however, come as a surprise and leave room for various interpretations” – says Iga Wilczyńska, director of the public affairs department at Grayling Poland.

Key findings from the study:

Parliamentarians choose different social platforms than their voters

European parliamentarians choose Twitter

Of the three social media platforms analysed, Facebook is the most popular among the general public in 16 of the 17 countries covered by the study, and Twitter is the least popular in all 17 countries. However, Twitter is the most popular platform among MPs in 13 countries and accounts for more than two-thirds of all posts in 10 of them.

Parliamentarians are “influencers”

On all three platforms, average engagement rates (i.e. the ratio of comments/likes/shares to the total number of followers of a given person) are higher for MPs than industry benchmarks for brands and even for “influencers” from outside the world of politics.

Women and men parliamentarians use social media differently

Contrary to the trend among the general public, female MPs are more active on Twitter and have more followers there than male parliamentarians. Posts by female MPs also generate higher engagement rates on Twitter and Facebook.

The youngest MPs are not the most active age group on social media

In fact, the most active group on social media across Europe are parliamentarians aged 36-45. After the age of 55, activity in online channels drops significantly.

Politicians with extreme views are the most active on all three platforms

Across Europe, posts by the far right generate particularly high audience engagement rates on Twitter, while both the far left and far right have the lowest engagement rates on Instagram. In Poland, this trend is not reflected – the Left (Lewica) and Confederation (Konfederacja) take first and second place in terms of follower engagement on Instagram.

Poland in second place in Europe

In most of the aspects analysed, Polish parliamentarians fit into pan-European trends. Against the European backdrop, however, they show greater activity in the media in terms of the average number of posts published per person. It stands at 607, giving Poland second place among the countries analysed, after Spain, which tops the ranking (690 posts per person). Importantly, looking at the general public, Poles rank only twelfth in the same group of countries when it comes to the percentage of the population that are social media users (Poland – 68.5%, Spain – 80%).

Polish politicians on social media – key findings

  • Although Twitter appears to be the preferred tool in political communication, more MPs have a Facebook account (444) than a Twitter account (372). Despite the smaller number of Twitter accounts, the number of content published there is more than twice as high as on Facebook. Instagram's share in politicians' communication remains marginal. Although 257 MPs have an Instagram account, their posts account for only 2.7% of all content generated by MPs on social media (for comparison, FB: 31%, TT: 66%).

 

  • Female MPs are more active on social media than male MPs. Polish female parliamentarians publish posts more often than their male colleagues on all platforms. On Facebook, as much as 34% of shared content is created by female MPs, while their accounts on this platform make up 29% of all parliamentarians' accounts. For women, the follower engagement rate is also higher on both Twitter (M-0.3%, F-0.4%) and Facebook (M-1.2%, F-1.8%). Only on Instagram do male MPs record higher user engagement than female MPs (M-6.4%, F-6%). Instagram content by male MPs also reaches a much larger number of followers than that of female MPs (68% of all parliamentarians on Instagram are men, but their view rate reaches 85%).

Why do political influencers engage more than brands?

 

  • On all three platforms, the highest engagement rate from followers occurs for parliamentarians in the 31-35 age group. For all age groups, the engagement rate is higher on Facebook than on Twitter. The highest number of views, meanwhile, is recorded by MPs in the 36-40 age bracket, which may mean that this group attracts the greatest interest. The extreme age groups (under 30 and 66-70) are the only ones among which more posts were published on Facebook than on Twitter.

 

  • Parliamentarians of Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska) in 2020 generated the largest number of posts across all platforms combined and recorded the most views by followers. On Facebook alone, despite a slightly higher number of posts by Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) politicians (37,342) than by Civic Coalition (33,894), KO posts generated as much as 70% more views and nearly 2.5 times more engagement from followers. When it comes to the engagement rate, the leader is the Left (Lewica), with the highest engagement rate on Facebook (2.5%) and Instagram (8.9%). The highest level of engagement on Twitter went to Law and Justice (0.5%). Interestingly, PiS records the lowest engagement rate on Instagram (3.8%) of all parties.

Grayling introduces ‘GPol’

Grayling introduces the new GPol tool

Grayling, in cooperation with Linkfluence, has launched "GPol" – a social media monitoring and digital advocacy service. The GPol tool will combine Linkfluence's social listening capabilities with knowledge of local markets and the nuances of the world of politics held by Grayling's Public Affairs consultants across Europe. GPol will help clients better understand the discussions taking place online, but will also translate these insights into effective public affairs and advocacy campaigns.

 

Grayling Poland

Grayling is one of the leading Public Relations and Public Affairs agencies in Poland, offering comprehensive communication services. For over 20 years we have supported our clients by providing them with strategic communication and crisis advice. We are also a hub for the Central and Eastern Europe region. Thanks to the extensive experience of Grayling consultants and the wide range of our services, we analyse the business and communication environment of companies, develop strategies and create effective campaigns. We take care of relationships with our clients, consumers, brands, partners, media and decision-makers. Our clients include: SONY, Visa, BMW Group, TikTok, FREE NOW, Primark, Nobu, Griffin Real Estate, EPP, Circle K, Tetra Pak, KHNP, GE Healthcare, Herbalife, Naspers, Grupa OLX, Goethe-Institut and TP Link.
Grayling Poland is part of Huntsworth, a global network of communication agencies headquartered in London, which employs 800 consultants in 40 offices across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.

Summary

The Grayling study covered nearly 3 million posts by parliamentarians from 17 European countries, including Poland. The most important conclusion: politicians engage audiences on social media more than brands, and their average engagement rates surpass industry benchmarks for brands and influencers from outside politics.

Polish parliamentarians took second place in Europe in terms of the average number of posts per person (607), behind only Spain. An interesting fact is that more Polish MPs have Facebook accounts than Twitter accounts, but it is Twitter that generates more than twice as much published content. At the same time, politicians with extreme views are the most active, and in Poland the highest engagement on Instagram is recorded by the Left and Confederation.