Visual Political Communication on Instagram: How Images, Reels and Infographics Shape Youth Political Perceptions

The study looks at various aspects such as exposure, focus on visual format, impact on political perception, credibility, and verification, of political content. Using the quantitative cross-sectional study design, the data was collected by using a structured questionnaire, from 100 respondents through sampling. The data shows that 81% of the sample were between the ages of 18-20 and that 65% were university students. A majority of the sample of 61% had determined reels and videos to be the most watched form of visual political content and 61% of the sample said these are also the form which people spend the most time engaging with. 41% of the sample said they occasionally came across political content. When asked about the ease of understanding this content 45% of the sample said that visual content makes it easier to understand information on politics slightly. A similar number 42% of the sample agreed that Instagram slightly has a moderate influence of political knowledge, with 23% saying it has a high and 5% saying it has a very high influence. Also, 40% said content with high aesthetic value made it credible to a small extent and 53% of the sample sometimes checked the credibility of political content on other websites. The results here highlight the importance of the short form video and information that it can convey and show that the influence on and perception of credibility may vary.