Political leaders in the app ecosystem

Abstract

This article analyzes the process of symbolic and critical-discursive construction of applications developed for mobile devices for some of the world’s most important heads of state through their manifestation in the ecosystem of mobile applications for iOS and Android. The sample includes 233 applications of 45 politicians from 37 countries. A content analysis-based method was applied to the discourse of these apps and users’ comments. The results reveal the dominant discourses in this scenario and identify the characteristics that influence their popularity, the influence of viral content and their reception in the connection between the mobile ecosystem and the political sphere. The discourse on the apps reveals a commercial interest and the existence of a diffuse diffusion of political commitment in terms of entertainment, parody and virality.