@dilmabr DURING THE IMPEACHMENT: An communication

C&S – São Bernardo do Campo, v. 39, n. 3, p. 61-77, set./dez. 2017 61

@dilmabr DURING THE IMPEACHMENT: An analysis of Dilma Rousseff’s political communication strategies on Twitter

@dilmabr NO IMPEACHMENT: Uma análise das estratégias de comunicação política de Dilma

Rousseff no Twitter1

@dilmabr EN IMPEACHMENT: Un análisis de las estrategias de comunicación política

de Dilma Rousseff en Twitter

* A primeira versão deste trabalho foi apresentada no GT “Comunicação e Política” do 26º Encontro Nacional da Compós realizado entre os dias 6 e 9 de junho de 2017 na Faculdade Cásper Líbero, São Paulo - SP. Agradecemos as contribuições dos colegas que participaram do debate sobre a versão apresentada naquela ocasião.

Eurico MatosUniversidade Federal

da Bahia

Tatiana Dourado

Universidade Federal

da Bahia

Pedro MesquitaUniversidade Federal

da Bahia

C&S – São Bernardo do Campo, v. 39, n. 3, p. 61-77, set./dez. 201762

Submissão: 22-10-2014Decisão editorial: 15-08-2017

RESUmoEste artigo examina o uso de redes sociais para comunicação política de líderes políticos em períodos de crise política. São analisados, especificamente, os conteúdos publicados pelo perfil de Dilma Rousseff no Twitter (@dilmabr) durante o processo de Impeachment da ex-presidente. Para isso, propõe-se: a) análise quantitativa relacionando a frequência de postagem a etapas-chaves do processo; b) exame de ferramentas de interatividade (RTs e hashtags); e c) desenvolvimento e aplicação de categorias para análise do conteúdo publicado. A análise qualitativa dos conteúdos de tweets publicados por Dilma demonstra que críticas dirigidas ao processo, a atores políticos envolvidos e a empresas tradicionais de jornalismo foi o tipo de conteúdo mais frequente, seguido de mensagens em que há uma clara demarcação de posições político-ideológica e tweets com uma dimensão de prestação de esclarecimentos aos seus seguidores acerca das denúncias que motivaram a abertura do processo. Palavras-Chave: Comunicação Política. Twitter. Análise de Conteúdo.

ABSTRACT: This article examines the use of social media for political communication of political leaders in times of political crisis. It analisys, specifically, the content posted by Dilma Rousseff on Twitter (@dilmabr) throughout the impeachment´s process. For this purpose, it is proposed: a) quantitative analysis relating the frequency of posts to key steps in the process; B) examination of interactivity tools (RTs and hashtags); and c) development and application of categories for analysis of published content. The qualitative analysis of the content of tweets published by Dilma demonstrates that the criticisms directed at the process, the political actors involved and the journalism companies for the most frequent type of content, followed by messages in a clear demarcation of political-ideological positions and tweets with a dimension of providing accountability to its followers about the denunciations that motivate an opening of the process.Keywords: Political Communication. Twitter. Content analysis.

RESUmENEste artículo examina el uso de redes sociales para la comunicación política de líderes políticos en períodos de crisis política.. más especí-ficamente, se analizan los contenidos publicados por el perfil de Dilma Rousseff en Twitter (@dilmabr) durante el período que comprende el proceso de Impeachment de la ex presidenta. Para eso, se propone: a) análisis cuantitativo relacionando la frecuencia de envío a etapas clave del proceso, b) examen de herramientas de interactividad (RT y hashtags), c) desarrollo y aplicación de categorías para el análisis del contenido publicado. Como resultado, el análisis cualitativo de los contenidos de tweets publicados por Dilma demuestra que críticas dirigidas al proceso, a actores políticos involucrados ya las empresas tradicionales de periodismo fue el tipo de contenido más frecuente, seguido de mensajes en que hay una clara demarcación de posiciones políticas-ideológica y tweets con una dimensión de prestación de aclaraciones a sus seguidores acerca de las denuncias que motivaron la apertura del proceso.Palabras-clave: Comunicación política. Twitter. Análisis de contenido.


IntroductionSocial networking sites have transformed the development of strategies for political com-

munication into something more plural and complex than before. This is because in different digital environments information is not only consumed, but also produced by different actors, be them individuals (activists, militants, political opponents or allies) or institutions (traditional communication media, independent media, among others). It’s in this online environment that political actors are more than ever trying to demarcate and highlight their political stan-ces, clear off polemic situations, show transparency to their electorate, publish their political agenda and schedules, promises or past achievements not only with goals of making oneself present, but also of shortening the distances with the electorate, amplifying visibility, detec-ting all trending topics of the moment and even actively taking part in political debates in the digital arena.

We propose to examine the strategies of political communication that guided the use of the online profile of Dilma Roussef (@dilmabr), who then was president of Brazil, during the impeachment process, which ended on the 31st of August 2016. It’s utterly necessary to state some punctual observations beforehand about the political and institutional scenery of Brazil during this period. The impeachment, in the Brazilian context, is a mechanism that terminates mandates of political representatives through a political-criminal process based upon presses and charges presented to the Congress. The parliamentarians must then, from the presses and charges, analyze if the accused - be them the president, a governor, mayor or even a minister from the Supreme Court - really committed a responsibility crime, in which case the sentence is the dismissal of their job and duties. This process must therefore be based in formal documents that portray evidence of the crimes. This document will later be analyzed by the Congress, differently from the so-called “recall”. Dilma’s impeachment was marked throughout by many divergences in the political, juridical and civil spheres, a fact which spa-rked national and international denunciations of a parliamentary coup happening in Brazil.

This research focuses on qualitative and quantitative analysis of all posts published through Dilma’s Twitter account, during one of the most striking and profound happenings in Brazil’s political history. The profile @dilmabr was created on the 10th of April 2010, when she was on dispute over what would be her first mandate. The account (with about 1.9 million followers) went inactive after she was elected in 2011. It was reactivated barely three years later, as she was preparing for the next elections. In the 27th of September 2013, an action was planned to mark her return to the medium: a tweet exchange with @dilmabolada, which was a fake Dilma profile made by people as a joke. In February 2017, six months after she was taken off government, the official profile had 5,086,611 followers and was described as “Dilma Rousseff’s Twitter, the elected president of Brazil”. Even impeached, she continues using the microblog to comment news and political facts, be them related to the impeachment process or not.

Regarding the impeachment, it is argued that Twitter could be converted into a timely channel for defining political communication strategies for Dilma Rousseff, since the digital


Eurico Matos; tatiana DouraDo PEDro MEsquita

platform is one of the main channels for argument deployment and for public visibility in con-temporary society. Choosing the platform is therefore based in its importance as an arena for the development of online politics, where the main influencers of the public sphere are coexisting in a constant and interactive dialogue process with all interested in politics.

This paper is divided in the following sections: In the first part, it focuses on two theoretical aspects; Twitter’s potential as a political communication tool and content analysis methods used by different researchers to analyze tweets published by political actors under different contexts. Secondly, there’ll be a quantitative analysis of aspects such as publishing frequency, RTs and hashtag counts. Lastly, we move on to the qualitative analysis of the content publi-shed by the profile @dilmabr based on the aspects and methods that were proposed.

Twitter as a political communication toolStudies about internet and politics have observed the use of digital networking sites under

the perspective of political communication more intensely in 2008, when candidate Barack Obama won the dispute over the United States’ presidency. One of the things that stood out in the democrats’ campaign was the overcoming of a history of apathy and reduced numbers of political participation, through communication strategies and online mobilization. “(...) Barack Obama’s outstanding performance was greatly associated to the unusually skilled use of online communication tools in his campaign, a campaign that reached and establi-shed new grounds and standards for online campaigns” (GOMES, REIS, SILVA, 2009, p. 30).

The literature regarding Twitter as a political communication tool has focused on electoral campaigns and spent little attention to themes such as the build-up of the public image of political leaders or the management of political crises by the heads of the Executive power. Although it is not the most popular social networking site in Brazil, Twitter has configured itself as a platform where informational flows are accelerated and real-time, which makes it both a source and a channel for information spreading, including the organization and support of highly relevant political and social events, with the examples of events such as the Arab Spring, Occupy Wal Street or Black Lives Matter.

Rossetto, Carreiro and Almada (2013, p. 191) have sought to understand the boundaries and possibilities of Twitter for the communication of political agents, justifying that the platform is a “place of resonance of political themes and discussions which are published throughout the most diverse communicational media”. The research observed that up until 2013 most Brazilian literature portrayed Twitter as a “tool for electoral campaigns and agenda”. Other themes would come up less recurrently, such as opinions and the day-to-day political action, besides opinion surveys and other mobilizations. Based on theoretical foundations, researchers concluded that the main function of political leaders’ use of Twitter is the spreading of infor-mation about political schedules and themes regarding personality and profile. “Interacting with followers is still a secondary priority” (ROSSETTO, CARREIRO and ALMADA, 2013, p. 191-206).

One of the studies that stretches beyond the fields of electoral campaign is that of Aha-rony (2012), who analyzed the way in which three political leaders – the prime ministers of Israel and the United Kingdom, Benjamin Netanyahu and David Cameron, and the president of the United States, Barack Obama – communicate through Twitter. The research conclu-des that the platform may replace or complement other communication channels, such as squares or closed rooms, for the practice of public speeches (AHARONY, 2012, p. 598). Ano-ther study, however, focuses on the “customizing” and personalization of politicians and the “virtualization” of politics. Regarding this, Nusselder (2013) observed curious aspects, among which the belief that Twitter is the “perfect medium for short and dogmatic statements” as one must fit a text under 144 characters, thus making it ideal for the communication of political leaders, especially the more charismatic and populist ones, “who don’t want their positions


@dilmabr NO imPEaCHmENT: Uma aNálisE das EsTraTégias dE COmUNiCaçãO POlíTiCa dE dilma rOUssEff NO TwiTTEr

to be discussed within the existing frameworks of representation (such as the parliament)” (NUSSELDER, 2013, p. 93).

Among the structural elements that have consolidated Twitter as a platform for the spreading of information and social and political engagement, perhaps the most significant is the hashtag. “(…) the hashtag’s function of placing an individual opinion together with a confluence of other opinions not only confirms the possibility of grouping data under themes, but also of opening up movements in that sense, with exponential dynamics” (DEN BERG, 2014, p. 5). Therefore, hashtags represent symbolic political actions as definitions of political stance while at the same time can organizing and facilitating the search for a diversity of tweets.

Facing these and other possibilities, Cervi and his team (2011) analyzed Twitter as an alternative space for political debate, especially during times of electoral campaign. Through the platform the electorate and the candidates can interact and discuss trending themes, with the potential of having the conversation amplified to other informational media. “Not only a source of news, Twitter’s microblogging may also be considered as a space for debate and interaction between candidates” (CERVI et al, 2011, p. 332).

Summing up, we have seen how Twitter may be used for as means of information sprea-ding, mobilizations, debates and political participation. It is central in this study to specifically understand the way in which political leaders - especially presidents or heads of state - may use this tool to shorten the distances with the electorate and reach effective standards for political communication and performance. To those ends the following topic in our study will build up on the state of art of the main categories that are already constituted and presen-ted on the literature over internet and politics, that propose to analyze politicians’ tweets.

Reviewing content analysis methodologies of tweetsThis article is based on the premise that political communication should be treated

strategically, especially in the context of the dispute over public image predominance, a process which involves a diversity of political actors and institutions (GOMES, 2004). There is a tradition of studies about communication strategies developed by Brazilian political leaders in different communication channels. One of the pioneering works in that sense was developed by Figueredo and team (1997), investigating political campaigns on television. The authors elaborated content analysis categories to investigate the communication strategies of can-didates to mayor in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in 1996. Among the categories used there is, for instance, the classification of messages under types such as attack, defense and call to action. Aldé and Dias (1998) go down the same methodological path, investigating the most prominent candidates’ spots.

It is noteworthy from then on how the internet and social networking sites led to deep changes and to the dissolving of informational mediation to the citizen, for communication with their political leaders. In the digital environment, political actors count with new means, formats and content for the production and spreading of information, allowing for direct contact with the civil sphere. As social networking has become more and more popular, the public visibility sphere, understood as “the dimension of social which is visible, accessible and available to public knowledge and domain” (GOMES, 2004, p. 134), becomes vulnerable to argumentations made directly by political actors and institutions and by the civil sphere.

An increasing effort by political communication researchers to analyze the communi-cation of political leaders, specifically in digital environments, even more so in the context of electoral campaigns is definitely notable as a consequence of the depicted processes (AGGIO, 2014; PARMELEE and BICHARD, 2012; CERVI and MASSUCHIN, 2011; MARQUES, SILVA and MATOS, 2011). The key premise is that intense usage of digital communication tools is now indispensable when disputing over public image. Not only that, it is also argued that “online campaigns may contribute not only for candidates and parties to reach specific electorate



segments more deeply and efficiently, but also allowing the most accurate treatment of political and electoral campaign information” (AGGIO, 2014, p. 31).

As regards methodological strategies used for analysis of political communication within digital environments, different authors have developed their own categories. To give some examples, we can remember the studies of Cervi and Massuchin (2011) where the authors investigated the use of Twitter in 2010’s run for governor of the state of Paraná by the two main candidates, Beto Richa (PSDB) and Omar Dias (PDT). The researchers established eight different categories to analyze posts made on the politicians’ official profiles: Campaigns, Personal Issues, Proposal of public policies, Support, Moral & Ethics, New Media, Conversations and Thankfulness and Others. Marques, Silva e Matos (2011), on the other hand, observed José Serra’s behavior in Twitter during 2010’s presidency campaign, and they designed five categories for the published material: Promotion of Ideas, Mobilization and Engagement, Themes Unrelated to the Campaign, Events and Negative Campaign. Under a wider pers-pective, Aggio (2014) analyzes 2010’s presidency campaign of three candidates – Marina Silva, Dilma Rousseff and José Serra – and divides the analysis into eleven categories: Sche-dules, Exhibition of Political Capital, Exhibition of Social Capital, Positioning, News Spreading, Negative Campaign, Calls for Engagement, Personal/Intimate, Promises and Proposals, Past Achievements and Others.

A less common approach of online political communication deals specifically with the period in between elections, that is, during the effective mandate, and with the appropria-tion of social networking sites by political representatives (AHARONY, 2012, ROSSINI and LEAL, 2012; VUČKOVIĆ and BEBIĆ, 2013). Practices that establish and maintain a dialogue channel with citizens in non-electoral moments are central, since hierarchies are less apparent, and communication can be done in a more direct manner. Political agents deal with matters like the administrative management of a specific place or institutional businesses, interfering directly on the population’s routine. They can express opinions about various themes, narro-wing relations with the press and connecting to other actors of the public sphere. Rossini and Leal (2012) have, for instance, examined the use of Twitter by four different Latin American presidents: Hugo Chavéz (Venezuela), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Sebástian Piñera (Chile) and Juan Manuel dos Santos (Colombia). Regarding content analysis, researchers worked with four categories: Political Speeches, Personal Speeches, Criticism/Commentaries and Interac-tion. Aharony (2012), however, has placed his efforts in understanding the presence of three different political leaders in Twitter: Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu e David Cameron. In his study, he established only three basic categories: Information, Blessings or Thankfulness and Declarations. Along these lines, however, subcategories were created, adapted to each case and based on observation of the content published by the political agents. Information, for example, is divided into “events”, “reports”, “personal”, “donations” among others. Bles-sings or Thankfulness into “general” and “special religions”. Finally, the category Declarations is related to subdivisions such as “peace”, “economy” and “security”.

Although the diversity of categorization methods produced by political leaders in digital environments is notable, there’s a noteworthy “gap” in such studies, which is the lack of analy-sis of how political leaders develop online political communication strategies in moments of political, social and economic instability of the political and administrative management. Even though the time frame analyzed by this work is not electoral, when strategies are oriented by the race for the position, we argue that Dilma’s impeachment process configures itself as a peculiar episode for the examination of the employment of digital tools for communication with the citizen, especially in the context of the political crisis. Twitter is a social networking site of quick and short messages, with real time, instant responses. In a scenario where then president Dilma Rousseff was questioning media coverage of the impeachment process,



this channel offered the opportunity to transmit messages directly to citizens, journalists and political actors. Even if Dilma didn’t or doesn’t use it as often, Twitter’s peculiarities are no-teworthy as they make this environment a relevant medium for transmitting content to a diversified public.

MethodologyOur goal is to examine political leaders’ communication strategies in Twitter, specially

within the context of a crisis such as the crisis that was ongoing during the analyzed period. For that end, we used the software Twitonomy to initially collect 1,100 tweets, which corres-ponded to the number of messages published between the acceptance of the impeach-ment process by the House of Representatives (12/02/2015) and her definitive withdrawal from the presidency (08/31/2016). This first sample was classified under two aspects, tweets about general topics, containing government acts and other issues related to Dilma’s daily activities as president, and tweets about the impeachment, in which the process is clearly mentioned, along with actors and institutions involved. For qualitative analysis, another filter was used on the sample. In this case, the focus is on the 601 tweets that deal with Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment process.

The quantitative analysis is focused on two stages: a) establishing a comparison betwe-en the publishing frequencies of general topics and impeachment tweets; b) examining the use of interactive resources such as RTs and hashtags. Jungherr (2015) argues that messages without hashtags may indicate that the post is aimed at direct followers, while the use of hashtags indicates an attempt to spread the message to a wider public. This is a kind of strategy to generate input on the public debate about the topic that has been “hashtag-ged”. It can therefore be seen that the use of this resource could represent an asset in Dilma Rousseff’s defense strategy, especially within the political context Dilma was going through at the time. The analysis of RTs on the other hand offers us evidence on how Dilma Rousseff’s profile seized the platform’s interactive possibilities. From the political communication’s point of view, what is there to gain from such seizing is the transformation of Twitter into an aus-picious medium for mobilizing social and political capital from other important and influent actors of the public debate.

For qualitative analysis, the methodology used in this research was Content Analysis. This is a set of techniques that consider quantitative and qualitative aspects within the process of logic deduction regarding the objectives and intention of a message (ROSSINI e LEAL, 2012). This technique will therefore demand from the researcher the construction of categories which will be applied throughout all of the analyzed content, observing that the “treatment of the data contained in the messages” (idem, p. 34) should be organized and managed based on the contexts in which they were produced.

This study has considered each tweet as an analytic unit, over which is applied the analytical effort of content interpretation and classification based on the categories propo-sed and presented below. This means that codifiers/encoders have taken into consideration rhetorical maneuvers mainly as a criterion in the classification of the published content. En-coding/Codification was done in two steps: an individual phase, in which each researcher analyzed contents from one third of the sample, and a collective phase in which contents were revisited and discussed by the authors together. If faced with ambiguities or dissonances, three paths had been traced: a) Reach common agreement through debate; b) re-define the categories or c) create a new category altogether that fits the published content. The following categories have been developed or redefined for the analysis of the tweets that compose this work’s sample:



a) Schedules: Within this category are messages aiming to publicize daily activities such as attendance to events, meetings with political leaders or with groups and entities from the civil society. Tweets that publicize speeches and interviews on radio or TV have also been included, with links to watch the full content or live broadcasting.

b) Attacks and Counter-attacks: These are negative tweets with criticism over political rivals and other actors involved in the political crisis, be them direct or indirect.

c) Call to action (Exhortation): Tweets that stimulate or call forth engagement in specific activities such as the participation in events or online actions like “tuitaços” (massive tweeting under the same banner/goal), or sending questions for interaction through live broadcasting in social networking sites.

d) Reassuring political stance (Staking territory): These tweets portray opinions and ideo-logical biases regarding happenings directly or indirectly related to the political crisis. Differently from the Attack category, there is no direct or indirect mention to opposite political actors, but rather, comments about recurring themes in the public debate seen through ideological frames.

e) Media Coverage: Tweets that replicate content from the press, legitimating the stan-ces that the political leaders assume. This category contemplates the use of essays, interviews and articles published on national and international communicational me-dia to endorse arguments or visions aligned with the governmental project.

f) Clarifications:Messages that explain or justify positions and governmental acts being contested in the public sphere. Included in this category are tweets within a dimension of transparency, or tweets that refer to political institutions and other official sources to build up a defense strategy.

g) Exhibition of social and political capital: These are messages that appeal to the notoriety of other social and political actors with goals of strengthening and valuing the publisher’s own public image. This category also includes tweets which portray gratitude for spontaneous support or support in public acts.

h) Projections: Messages that picture future scenarios and possible measures to be un-dertaken to contain the crisis. This category contemplates tweets that try to restore the stability in the political community through transference of confidence in relation to future scenarios.

i) Achievements: Messages that bring back measures undertaken, and public policies developed by the government. We have also considered tweets referring to acts from the current management, even if it’s a follow-up of a previous political project.

ResultsAn isolated analysis of tweets is not enough, by itself, to trace down strategies adopted

by the profile @dilmabr during the impeachment process. It is first necessary to place the facts and political happenings that occurred during the impeachment process into context. Figure 1 represents the publishing frequency of the profile @dilmabr and highlights important phases of the process. It can be observed that in a first moment Dilma Rousseff did not comment her impeachment process, even though she maintained activity in the network with posts about her management and governmental acts. On the 2nd of December, when the process was received by the president of the House of Representatives, @dilmabr published six tweets about this topic. It is mentioned again only on the 13th of March, when she published a note about the manifestations opposing her mandate and in favor of the impeachment. Rousseff started using the microblogging more intensely as a defense tool against the impeachment only on the 12th of May, when the Senate approved the start of the process. The president,



who was still in exercise, was relieved from her duties for 180 days. The profile @dilmabr then starts publishing multiple messages about the impeachment process.

FIGURE 1: Frequency of daily tweets in general topics and about the impeachment1

SOURCE: The authors

The 29th of august 2016 was the day with the largest number of posts related to the impeachment, when the withdrawn president took part in a plenary session in the Senate to defend herself. Most posts on this day were extracts from Dilma’s speech to the senators pre-sent in the House. The hashtag #PelaDemocracia (For democracy) was used exactly on this day, which partly justifies the number of times it shows up throughout the sample (see Figure 2). All tweets with that hashtag were published between noon of the 29th and 2:50 AM of the 30th; which means that it was not a strategy of continuous use of the hashtag throughout the process, but rather a very particular use during the coverage of the session.

When Rousseff was ultimately dismissed on the 31st, her profile started publishing a series of tweets with the second most used hashtag by the ex-president: #LutarSempre (Always Fight or Keep Fighting). A common observation among the use of these hashtags is that they would come together and be repeated as the tweets of her last speech were publi-shed. Hashtags were therefore not used as tools to promote the engagement of citizens in a continuous campaign against the impeachment, starting from its approval by the House of Representatives (Fig. 2).

1 Continuous Line – Number of posts related to the impeachment – date. Dotted line – Number of posts in general – date. Events: DA: Presses were accepted by the House of Representatives; EC: Election of the special commission in the House; AC: Approval of the process; CS: The commission in the Senate is set; SI: The Senate approves the impeachment; AT: Temporary withdrawal of the president; DS: Dilma’s Defense in the Senate; AD: Definitive withdrawal.



FIGURE 2: Hashtag frequency2

SOURCE: The authors

Differently from the hashtags #PelaDemocracia and #LutarSempre, the hashtag #AoVivo is more evenly distributed along the analyzed period, which is a signal that Rousseff’s official account uses the hashtag to call out followers as audience for live transmissions done throu-gh Periscope. Another signal is the notable frequency of the use of hashtags to publicize TV shows in which Rousseff had interviews done during the impeachment process (#DilmaNaTV, #DilmaNaTVBrasil, #DilmaNoSBT).Hashtags that had any symbolic value regarding the impea-chment process were laid aside, with priority for hashtags that publicized interview schedules, especially ones on television.

Most retweeted profiles by @dilmabr on the period were not those of politicians, be them opponents or allies, or actors of the traditional media. Of the 601 tweets published by Rousseff’s profile, 41 were retweets (RTs). The information pictured in Figure 3 indicates a profile that was frequently retweeted and a number of cases of RTs of unrelated profiles. The most retweeted profile was @blogdoplanalto (the head office’s official blog) (n=10). These posts are usually links to messages published by the Planalto Palace (the seat of government), implying on the use of Twitter as a self-referential method of spreading official publications throughout other media. Dilma Rousseff’s access to the head office’s official blog was denied during her temporary withdrawal. Because of that, from the 12th July 2016 on, Rousseff started using Alvorada’s Blog, which was another official address to which she still had access.

In very few cases, Dilma Rousseff’s twitter profile used this resource to reproduce content published by common citizens, that is, those not organized in entities of collective interest or related to political parties. It can be seen that Dilma Rousseff sometimes retweeted interna-tional journalistic companies (@CCTV_America, @elpais_brasil, @elmundoes), independent media sources and actors (@MídiaNINJA, @TheInterception, @ggreenwald, @ajplus), and actors from the formal political sphere such as the manager of the Mais Médicos3 social program in Rousseff’s mandate, Heider Pinto, representative Erika Kokay (@erikakokay) and Bolivia’s president Evo Morales (@evoespueblo).

2 In order, #ForDemocracy, #AlwaysFight [KeepFighting], #Live, #DilmaOnTV, #DilmaOnTVBrasil, [state television network], #DilmaOnSBT [private television network], #5BlogProg, #InDefenseOfDemocracy, #LavaJato [theBrazil’s largest ongoing operation against corruption], #MyHouseMyLife [This is the name of the federal housing program], #DilmaInUN [United Nations]).

3 Literally means “More Doctors”, a program that brings foreign doctors to work in areas in need.



FIGURE 3: RT frequency by author or original authorSOURCE: The authors

Beyond quantitative methods of analysis for the tweets and interactive resources used by the profile @dilmabr, this article proposes a qualitative analysis of the content of each mes-sage. To that end, we developed and applied specific categories related to each message in accordance to its nature. Table 1 summarizes the results obtained through categorization of tweet content.

Content Category n %Attack and Counter-Attack 163 27,1Reassuring political stance 152 25,3Clarifications 97 16,1Schedules 78 13,0Exhibition of Social and Political Capital 35 5,8Achievements 30 5,0Media Endorsement 24 4,0Projections 16 2,7Call to Action 6 1,0Total 601 -TABLE 1: Frequency of published messages by content categorySOURCE: The authors

Most of the content published by Dilma Rousseff’s Twitter profile during that period is noti-ceably doing some sort of offensive or attack against the process, political rivals or traditional media. For example, messages directed to Michel Temer and his team, parliamentarians or the media. Constant accusation of the coup as such was a common frame in Dilma’s pu-blications on the microblog. During the opening up and through its course the process was also criticized by the profile @dilmabr. There are several messages opposing the termination of policies by the temporary government, such as the extinction of the Ministry of Culture and reforms of the “Minha casa, Minha vida” program (a housing program of the federal gover-nment). In total, 163 tweets were put under these categories, that is, 27.1% of the sample.



FIGURE 4: Examples of tweets categorized as Attack and Counter-Attack4

It can be seen from the relatively high percentage of tweets classified as “Reassuring Political Stance” (25.3% of the sample) a strong ideological and wayward thrust to Dilma Rousseff’s comments about any happenings directly or indirectly related to political stability; messages that are often in emotive tone, or exalting ethical and moral principles of the ex--president and her allies. The denunciation of the impeachment process as a sexist event was one of the recurring frames of Dilma’s posts during the period.

FIGURE 6: Examples of tweets categorized as Reassuring Political Stance 5

We can also see the use of Twitter as a medium to answer and give account to the citizen about the ex-president’s actions throughout the process. Categorized here as “Clarifications”, these messages are looking forward to, up to an extent, explaining or justifying governmental actions and positions questioned in the public sphere; tweets that for example appeal to reports from juridical institutions or official sources as means to build up a defense strategy for the ex-president. It must be noticed that all tweets offering the reader a link to access notes published on Planalto’s Blog were included under this category as they’re explaining events, facts or rival declarations. This category amounts to 16.1% of the sample, that is, 97 tweets.

4 Left: “The temporary government is leading us to a financial plummeting that will threaten the recovery of the economy and the population”. Right: “Media Participation was large, they convoked manifestations, made spectacles out of coverages and tried to portray themselves as being against corruption”.

5 Left: “There’s a sexist and misogynist component in this coup. Our sensitivity is mistaken for frailty; our strength with lack of compassion”. Right: “I don’t think external interference was needed for this coup. However, international interests may make profit of it, no doubt.”



FIGURE 5: Examples of tweets categorized as Clarifications6

“Schedules” is a common category in many studies about online communication stra-tegies developed by political leaders. In the case examined by this article, the number of messages with this characteristic sum up to 13% of the sample. These were moments when Dilma would announce a daily activity such as participation in events, meetings with lea-ders or rallies with supporters. There are also some cases of publicization of interviews done on radio and TV; these are often links to a live broadcast or to Rousseff’s complete speech.

FIGURE 6: Examples of tweets categorized as Schedules7

Also noteworthy are posts where @dilmabr tries to mobilize notoriety from political actors, social movements and any defenders in general, with the goal of strengthening and valuing her own public image. This is the case of the tweet published by Dilma thanking the support she got from then candidate to presidency of the USA, Bernie Sanders. Tweets expressing thankfulness to support from public figures such as singers Chico Buarque and Fernanda Takai were common, too. Also, part of this group of messages were tweets thanking the support from various public acts done in the period when she was temporarily relieved from her du-ties. In total, this category is seen in 35 tweets (5.8% of the sample).

6 “The forensics department of the Senate itself has confirmed that I had no participation in the Safra Plan, which is a thoroughly published matter on the final “paddling” [fiddling with the accountability, which she was charged for”.

7 Left: “Good Afternoon! President Dilma will soon do an interview with @RdGuaibaOficial, from Rio Grande do Sul (a Brazilian state). Follow us here!”. Right: “#Live! President Dilma’s interrogation starts now. Follow us: goo.gl/bYzHuJ #ForDemocracy”



FIGURE 7: Examples of tweets categorized as Exhibition of Social and Political Capital8

Feedback from international journalistic companies and the manner in which they were covering the happenings in Brazil were strategic elements for the political communication that was adopted in various moments throughout the impeachment process. For example, in many interviews Dilma Rousseff would appeal to News articles produced by foreign com-munication vehicles, looking at how the international Community was looking at her impea-chment. When we look at posts made on Twitter, however, this type of content categorized as “Media Endorsement” represents only 4% of the sample (n=24).

FIGURE 8: Examples of tweets categorized as Media Endorsement 9

The low frequency of posts in which Dilma Rousseff turns to acts and achievements of her first mandate as a defense strategy in the process is noticeable. Although this is also a type of content which is common in studies about political communication strategies, in the case of Rousseff’s process they account to only 30 tweets, that is, 5% of the sample.

8 Left: “I’m very happy that I’m going to Piauí (a Brazilian state) tomorrow. I feel grateful for the support of those who voted for me. I thoroughly appreciate my partnership with governor Wellington”. Right: “I was received in Santa Cruz (RJ) [a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro] with the chanting of “There won’t be a coup, there’ll be fight”. We fight to preserve social programs.”

9 Left : “Worth the read: ‘Honey, I shrunk the State’ . A l ink to an art ic le by Vin ic ius Tor res F re i re”. Right: “Interview with @nytimes: Dilma Rousseff prepares herself for political judgement in an environment of resignation and lack of power”.



FIGURE 9: Examples of tweets categorized as Achievements10

Finally, the two categories with the lowest incidence in our analysis of the content publi-shed by Dilma Rousseff during the impeachment process were “Projections and Promises” (2.7% of the sample) and “Call to Action” (1% of the sample). The first one is generally composed of tweets in which Dilma shows optimism towards her return as the Head of the Executive. In these, Rousseff invests in speeches that demonstrate confidence regarding the necessary reforms that must be done as soon as the process is over. Even though the category “Call to Action” is rarely frequent in the sample, it was kept as it is considered a strategy that de-monstrates some degree of domain over the interaction that the platform allows with the users, thereby serving as example of good communicational practice in digital environments.

FIGURE 10: Examples of tweets categorized as Projections and Promises 11

10 Left: “For over 13 years, we successfully carried on a project that promoted the largest social inclusion and shortened inequalities in history. #AlwaysFight”. Right: “If inflation today is in accordance to the fiscal target, this is due to my government’s acts. Even the temporary Minister of Finances acknowledges how robust our economy is”.

11 Left: “We will be back. We’ll be back to continue our journey towards a country where the people are ‘sovereign’. #AlwaysFight”. Right: “When I get back, I’ll have a mission: realizing that Brazil went through a democratic breakaway and I am responsible of fixing it.”



FIGURE 11: Examples of tweets categorized as Exhortation12

ConclusionResults of this research have shown that Dilma Rousseff’s Twitter profile did not take hold

of interactive opportunities offered by the platform for the establishment of contact with citi-zens and other influent actors in the public debate. Since the beginning of the process there had not been a strong campaign for the participation of the profile in discussions indexed through hashtags, which would gather opinions from citizens and other actors involved such as journalists, groups from the civil Society and independent media organizations. The most used hashtag (#PelaDemocracia) was only an accessory that came together with posts containing quotes from her speech in the Senate. This result, associated with the reduced number of RTs backs up previous researches which indicated that interacting with followers is a secondary attribute of political leaders’ Twitter accounts (ROSSETTO, CARREIRO E ALMADA, 2013), even out of the context of electoral campaigns. The study also analyzed the relation between po-litical facts, stages of the process and Dilma Rousseff’s Twitter publication frequency. Results suggest that the profile @dilmabr progressively posted messages about the case only when her temporary relieving of duties was laid out. This means that the appropriation of Twitter as a channel of strategic communication for Dilma’s defense in the sphere of public visibility is intensified as the process moved forward.

The methods adopted by this article do not allow it to – and it never intended to – de-termine if there is a causal relation between the communication strategy that was adopted and the outcome of Dilma’s ousting as president. Other elements beyond online commu-nication strategies were influencing her fate as president, such as her negotiation skills with other political actors and her relations with communication media. The arguments of this study, however, go along the lines that when faced with limitations on access to the official communication channels of the presidency, Twitter could have been and could be used as a crucial tool of communication, intervening in the public debate and in the construction of the ex-president’s image, especially in the context of the political crisis. The behavior of not exposing oneself to the public debate may be configured exactly as a political strate-gy. Future research may adopt specific methods to understand more precisely the political motivations that explain the findings of the article in focus.

Qualitative analysis of the content of Dilma’s tweets over the analyzed period point to which language resources were prominent in the ex-president’s defense strategy in Twitter.

12 “Come talk with me and minister Tereza about social policies. Send us your question! goo.gl/9o4cfK”



Criticism directed towards the process, political actors involved in it and to traditional media companies were the most frequent kind of content, followed by messages with a clear de-marcation of political and ideological stances. Also noteworthy are tweets with a dimension of clarification and justification to followers about the presses against her, done by the Congress.

From a theoretical point of view, this article offers the online political communication area of research a thorough analysis of one of the most remarkable moments in national politics. Not only that, results shown in this work contribute to future researches that may pro-pose to analyze the political communication of government leaders in moments of political instability; other possible studies might assume a comparative tone between the Brazilian case and others in Latin America, such as in Venezuela. Furthermore and finally, it seems appropriate to indicate that future researches might concentrate in comparative analysis between social networking sites, especially Facebook and Twitter, as means of finding out if there is any substantial difference between Rousseff’s discursive stances and positions in different networks and media.

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Documents

@dilmabr DURING THE IMPEACHMENT: An communication