The F-campaign: a discourse network analysis of party leaders’ campaign statements on Facebook

In the 2015 Israeli national elections, social media and especially Facebook were used as primary campaign platforms, where politicians of all parties and orientations expressed their agendas, made policy statements and communicated with potential voters. The present article employs a new methodology, discourse network analysis, to explore the relationships between party leaders and discourse themes, based on leaders’ pre-election statements on Facebook. The findings highlight prominent themes and the relationships formed between leaders and themes, and between leaders and each other. The network formed by party leaders’ shared agendas and themes resembles the parties’ positioning in the parliament after the election, strengthening the assumption that Facebook has been used strategically as a campaign tool by the leaders of parties running for parliament.