For better or for worse: politics marries pop culture (TikTok and the 2022 Italian elections)

This contribution focuses on analysing political communication in Italy during the 2022 national elections, with particular attention to the TikTok platform, where prominent Italian political leaders have appeared. To this end, we used a combination of social analysis tools, including Fanpage Karma and Blogmeter Live Insight. The collected data were scrutinized using a multidisciplinary approach that combines Political Communication Theory and Media Analysis. The aim is to explore the role of pop culture in political communication and understand how this phenomenon influences political participation and users’ choices. Furthermore, the possible consequences of the growing popularity of pop political communication on political representation are examined, as well as whether this is a momentary or long-lasting phenomenon.