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175
Komunika: Jurnal Dakwah dan Komunikasi
Vol. 17, No. 2, October 2023, 175-190
ISSN 1978-1261 (print); 2548-9496 (online)
DOI: 10.24090.komunika.v17i2.7206
Ganjar Pranowo’s Storytelling and Political Image on Social
Media
Nani Nurani Muksin*
1
, Astriana Baiti Sinaga
1
,
Hendra Hidayat
1
, Daniel Handoko
1
, Amin Shabana
1
1
Universitas Muhammadiyah Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
Article Information
Submitted December 10, 2022
Revision April 05, 2023
Accepted May 23, 2023
Published October 01, 2023
Abstract
Politics is not socially empty. Therefore, politicians must also find the right strategy to increase
popularity and electability. One way that can be used is the use of social media. Social media is
now widely used by political actors as a means to absorb aspirations in the political field. One
of the social media that is currently widely used as a political tool is TikTok. As of April 2022,
there are 99,072,000 TikTok users in Indonesia or 51.1% of the Indonesian population aged 18
years and over. This article aimed to explore how Ganjar Pranowo built his self-image through his
TikTok account @ganjarpranowofc and what storytelling strategies were used in that image. A
qualitative approach with a content analysis method is used in writing this article. There are 252
videos from the TikTok account @ganjarpranowo were analyzed from January to May 2022. This
article uses the political image category approach described in Liebhart and Bernhardt's research
(2017) as a basis for analysis. From this research, Ganjar Pranowo simplifies political issues in
his imagery efforts. In addition, there are indications of three storytelling strategies used in
political imagery on the TikTok account: the biographical strategy, the incumbent strategy, and
the Kagama chairman strategy.
Keywords: Social Media; Storytelling; Political Communications; Political Image.
*Author Correspondence: Nani Nurani Muksin, Email: naninuranimuksin@umj.ac.id
© 2023 The Authors, Published by Fakultas Dakwah UIN Saizu Purwokerto - Indonesia
Introduction
APJII data shows that internet
penetration in Indonesia reached 7.02% in
June 2022 (APJII, 2022). This data is directly
proportional to the increase in social media
users in 2022 by 21 million (12.6%) to
191.4 million people or 68.9% of Indonesia's
population (Kepios, 2022). One of the
supporting factors for the high absorption of
Internet and social media users in Indonesia
is the development of gadgets using advanced
Internet technology that are very affordable.
In addition, the spread of the Internet network
is increasingly evenly distributed throughout
the region.
The Internet and social media use in
political communication has grown and
become more significant since the 2014
Indonesian Presidential Election. Candidates
are using social media as a tool to strengthen
their political narratives. Since then, almost
all types of social media have been used by
political actors to communicate (El Qudsi &
Syamtar, 2020; Wahyudi, 2018). Including
the Governor of Central Java for two terms,
Ganjar Pranowo.
Social media with official account
status used by Ganjar Pranowo include
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
On January 27, 2020, the TikTok account @