Interactivity, thematic agenda and negative campaigning in the 2024 Catalan Elections: between Instagram stories and posts

Instagram is a social network that political actors are increasingly using to convey messages to their followers and the public. Whether in ephemeral stories for 24 hours or in permanent publications (posts), the platform has introduced and improved various functionalities with which to humanize and show increasing closeness to the community. The present research examines the communicative strategies related to interactivity, thematic agenda and negative campaigning analyzed in the Instagram profiles of the candidates of the Catalan Elections held in 2024, which put an end to 14 years of pro-independence governments in Catalonia. Applying a mixed research methodology -quantitative and qualitative-, an analysis of the content and discourse of the 509 stories and 91 posts that the Catalan leaders disseminated during the electoral campaign carried out in the run-up to these elections is carried out. The main results include the scarce use of interactive resources in both formats, the representation of a thematic agenda focused on more personal issues in the permanent publications and dedicated to sectorial issues in the temporary stories and, finally, the scarce presence of a negative campaign in both formats. It is concluded that, despite the complementarity of temporary stories and permanent publications in the communication strategies of Catalan politics, the potential for citizen interaction and participation remains underutilized.