From TikTok to the Ballot Box: Parasocial Relationships and the Construction of Presidential Choice in the 2024 Election

Abstract

The 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election shows various communication phenomena. With Generation Z and Millennials comprising the majority of voters, political communication has increasingly shifted toward personal, emotional appeals through social-media figures, making it urgent to understand whether such bonds translate into political choice. In the era of media convergence, audiences are both consumers and producers of content, and one rapidly growing phenomenon is politainment on TikTok. Figures such as Major Teddy (now Lieutenant Colonel), an aide to one of the presidential candidates, attract the public, especially young women, through content displaying his professionalism and visual appeal. This study uses a qualitative phenomenological approach involving six informants to reveal how idolizing Major Teddy forms a parasocial relationship shaping his fans’ political preferences. The results show that the parasocial relationship established with Major Teddy plays an important role in increasing political engagement and shaping the political views of his followers. This effect is most significant among first-time voters who tend to be more responsive to political communication based on public figures on social media. Thus, this study highlights the important role of parasocial phenomena in the dynamics of digital political communication in Indonesia. Theoretically, it contributes to Political Parasocial Relationship, whereas such relations are assumed to arise from celebrity appeal, this study shows they can instead grow from qualities resembling institutional trust, the orderliness, privacy guarding conduct, and professionalism of a military aide which informants ranked above their admiration for popular idols.