The view from above: visual representation of Serbia’s citizens on Instagram profile of the president Aleksandar Vučić

Abstract

A large number of politicians often use visual media content for promotion, campaigning and communication with citizens. Alongside traditional visual content, such as TV newscasts and images in print media, visual digital platforms and social media have become popular avenues for politicians to reach the audience and garner support. Some of them regularly use Instagram as a growing platform in recent years, which has contributed to political hyper-individualization and made “distanced” presidents, prime ministers and other political leaders more “ordinary” and closer to citizens. The Instagram account of Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s president, has become highly popular in recent years and highly relevant source of information for the mainstream media in Serbia, including the Public Broadcasting Service RTS. Against this background, this paper examines how Serbia’s citizens have been visually represented on the president’s Instagram. For that purpose, quantitative and qualitative content analysis of photographs and videos published in 2019 and 2021 has been conducted. The study identifies the main visual frames in which the citizens of Serbia appear on this profile and discusses the leading visual strategies of Vučić’s interaction with the people in general and with specific social and professional groups.