Vote for my selfie: Politician selfies as charismatic engagement

Abstract

Taking Singaporean Member of Parliament (MP) Baey Yam Keng as a case study, this chapter analyses how charismatic engagement can be mediated through social media and selfie tropes. In the wake of online campaigns since the General Elections 2011, and with the ruling party garnering its lowest share of electoral votes since state independence, MP Baey, aged 47, has emerged as a press-branded 'selfie king', 'social media celebrity' and 'Twitter influencer' for engaging with the online citizenry since publishing his first selfie in March 2013. Drawing on his Instagram and Twitter feed and selfie-related engagements up till 2015, this chapter demonstrates how politician selfies can be exercised to solicit affect and mobilise public sentiment among voters.