Persuasiveness of Facebook in Election Campaign During the 15th Selangor State Legislative Assembly General Election

Facebook has become one of the most popular social media platforms that being used in Malaysia election campaigns. This platform was proven easy to access and has wide range of users besides being a facility for the election candidates and political parties to connect directly with their voters or target group. However, the persuasion portrayed through the information disseminated and shared through this platform had been seen as created certain perception among the voters, impacting their voting behaviour. Most political parties have creatively sustained in utilizing Facebook platform to influence the voters to believe in information that they shared. This study focuses further into this area by reviewing the usage of Facebook by selected candidates in election campaign during the 15th Selangor State Legislative Assembly General Election held in August 2023. Characterwascs, issues highlighted, and viewpoints of these candidates’ Facebook postings during the campaign were further scrutinized. Content analysis done on the Facebook postings showed that the election candidates had dynamically and strategically used Facebook as a medium to create and sustain feedback and comments. The findings hope to further comprehend the accordance of Facebook as one of social media platform in politics. The cascade of political participating through Facebook in Selangor election perceived a trend of more consistent social media tool usage as a part of Malaysia politics political strategies. This study also held to assess the capability and persuasiveness of Facebook to determine the role of social media as part of an effective political communication strategy.