ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Visual Communication
Self-representation, online identity, and visual framing of Spanish Members of Parliament on X
Provisionally accepted
- University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Introduction: Self-representation on social media has become a central mechanism through which political representatives construct their public image, simultaneously transforming political communication into all its dimensions. The aim of this study is to explore how the Spanish parliamentarians self-represent and construct their political image on X during the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Methods: To that end, a deductive content analysis is applied on the images posted by Spanish representatives present in the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, developed during 15-16th November of 2023. Results: During the investiture sessions Spanish parliamentary representatives who had an active X account (90% of the total) published 204 self-representative images. The results revealed patterns in the way self-representation images are structured based on the parliamentarian's political party affiliation. Discussion: These findings show that most of Spanish MPs were active on X and tended to prioritize party-fidelity over individualization strategies, remaining loyal to the group image and adapting their visual self-representation in accordance with their affiliation. In addition, Spanish politicians variate their visual discourses between investiture sessions. Conclusion: This manuscript helps to understand the personalization of MP's political image through social media and their impact on government actions, while it also highlights the necessity of inquiring into the political self-representation during in-situ events or outside media-focused periods.
Keywords: multimodal discourse, political communication, political image, Self-representation, Social Media, visual framing
Received: 29 Sep 2025; Accepted: 31 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Burguera-Serra, Sanz-Aznar and Comabella-Costa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joan-Gabriel Burguera-Serra
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