In the midst of the election campaign for the December elections, a few very prominent ones politician joined the social network TikTok.
Minister of Finance in the previous convocation of the Government of Serbia and functionary of the Serbian Progressive Party Siniša Mali, President of the Social Democratic Party Boris Tadić, President of the Socialist Party of Serbia Ivica Dačić, as well as the President of Serbia Alesandar Vučić opened their accounts on this social network as part of the December election campaign.
It was clear that the content of the profiles of some of these politicians was created for the sake of the election campaign and that the content that is being published is very politically engaged, writes Today.
However, while some have used this platform for short-term scoring, some continue to use it as a powerful communication channel to reach out to the youth.
Active only before elections
The profiles of both Boris Tadić and Ivica Dačić quite surprised the public when they were opened, but these politicians did not decide to publish the content in the long term. Namely, they were active until December 17, that is, until the day before the elections.
They mainly communicated messages from their political campaigns, which they also distributed on other channels.
In his first video, Tadić emphasized that he will use TikTok as a channel of communication with young people, along the way commenting on the content published by other politicians, such as Goran Vesić and Siniša Malog.
However, the profile of Boris Tadić, while he was active, was mainly based on a direct address to his followers and on excerpts from the material used in the election campaign.
The content on Ivica Dačić's profile on this social network, on the other hand, had a clear message from the very beginning.
The complete content was used in the pre-election campaign of the list led by Ivica Dacic, where he referred to the continuity of the policy of the Socialist Party of Serbia and promoted the rhetoric that Dacic himself expressed in all his speeches during that period.
Political messages delivered through humor
Considering how active Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is on other social networks, it was not so surprising that he started publishes content on TikTok as well.
His profile is also very politically colored and he promotes his public policies through short videos, but what distinguishes him from Tadic and Dacic is that he continued to create content even after the election.
Vučić's videos are generally more suitable for young people, whom he actually addresses on this social network, so among the posts you can also find various jokes through which he sends political messages.
What attracted the most public attention on TikTok during the election campaign was the interaction between the president and his impersonator, who was previously known on the network.
The videos of the interaction between President Vučić and this "tiktoker" are by far the most viewed on the president's profile, and the sensationalization of these interactions by the public was enormous.
What we can conclude is that most of the political actors who joined this network treated it as a medium for promoting the election campaign outside the framework of traditional media in order to bring their politics closer to younger voters.
Goran Vesić and Siniša Mali the most polar
Although the Minister of Finance Siniša Small profile on TikTok opened at the same time as Boris Tadić or Ivica Dačić, had a completely different concept and is still active.
The profile of this public official has a much more personal approach to his followers, and the politics that were promoted during the election campaign were not the focus of the content. Through the published videos, Mali focused on himself as a public figure, and not on the politics he advocates.
His popularity on this network primarily lies in the videos in which he shares his opinions, personal views and life experiences with his followers completely outside the context of politics, which has attracted the attention of young people on this social network.
The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesić was among the first politicians from Serbia to open a profile on this social network. He did it back in 2021 and immediately became very popular.
His profile management model was followed by Siniša Mali, publishing similar content, and both are still very popular today.
