I’m a little late to the post-lunch session at the IAMCR 2025 conference in Singapore, which has started with Ana Margarida Barreto’s paper on discussions of climate change on eleven Portuguese parties’ Facebook pages. They investigated the presence of various climate change-related topics on those pages.
Two broadly green parties talked about climate change considerably more than any of the others; though during the election all other parties also talk somewhat more about climate change. Most parties share a substantial number of images and videos, though the far-right populist Chega party exclusively shared links and no audiovisual content.
Minor and fringe parties posted a great deal more about this than major parties, and climate change, pollution, ocean and river protection, and forest protection were particularly prominent topics. Some parties used emoji a great deal more than others.
Pollution, climate change, ocean and river protection, and recycling topics generated the greatest deal of engagement relative to the number of posts. Recycling posts also received considerably more positive responses. Green and far-right parties generated far more comments than other parties.
Ideology and party status (major/minor) affect what parties post and how they use Facebook, then; concreteness, emotional resonance, and relevance to everyday practices substantially drive engagement with content. Visibility online is not always about the frequency of posting, but also about the resonance of posts. Emotional framing outperforms neutral, policy-oriented content.
