Relações entre a construção do ethos político de Nikolas Ferreira e seu engajamento no Instagram na campanha eleitoral de 2022

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between political ethos in the digital political communication of federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira on Instagram and public engagement as reflected in the comments on his posts. Drawing on Patrick Charaudeau’s concept of discursive ethos, it was possible to identify and classify the types of self-image projected by the congressman in his digital content and measure engagement rates corresponding to each discursive category. Thirteen posts published during the final week of the 2022 electoral campaign were analyzed. The posts were categorized according to six predominant types of ethos: authority, power, solidarity, virtue, character, and humanity. In parallel, the public engagement rate of each post was calculated based on likes and comments. The results showed that the ethos of humanity, solidarity, and character had the highest average engagement rates, while the ethos of power and virtue had the lowest. The emotional connotation of the post comments was also analyzed, revealing significant variations among the different ethos types, with the ethos of power standing out for having the highest proportion of negative comments. The study concludes that the political ethos associated with engagement can be an important indicator of electoral performance. These findings deepen the discussion on political communication in digital media and provide a foundation for future research in political discourse analysis.