Structural-Interpretive Analysis (ISM) of Common Persuasive Methods of Message Sharing in Social Networks during City Council Elections based on the Metacomposite Approach (Case Study: Isfahan City Council Elections)

Elections are one of arenas where people express their opinions and desires and indirectly intervene in the public policy-making process. During the elections, candidates, groups, and political parties try to compete with each other based on different political principles to gain power and, if elected, implement their desired policy. In the past, advertising in political arenas was mostly done through speeches in circles, tracts, urban advertisements, making documentary films, and advertisements in media such as television and to some extent short messages, and its influence on the electoral behavior of the people was moderate, because only those active in the political fields tended to attend these circles and participate in the speeches of election candidates. In fact, these advertising methods were more traditional and created huge costs for the candidates and their sponsors. However, with the introduction of social networks, the form and effectiveness of advertisements changed both in terms of content and in terms of how they were transmitted to citizens, and more people, especially the younger generation of society, who were involved in social networks, were informed about their views, and its effectiveness was many times higher. Other media were and are now considered to be one of the most important tools for increasing the accuracy and efficiency of advertisements, which can be effective in strengthening people's voting. In fact, social networks are a tool under the control of candidates who intend to attract the attention and trust of citizens by expressing their ideas and programs to gain political seats. This advertising includes various methods that the type of utilization of them, as well as the initiative in using new methods, can facilitate the process of selecting candidates to a great extent. In fact, the behavior of candidates and electoral strategies have created a wide tendency to choose social networks as a persuasive priority for citizens, so that they can get more votes. Social networks are the current view of society, culture, politics, economy, and science. By carefully examining the relationships of people and other social entities in social networks in various fields, we will know the characteristics of the target society. It is a short story that turned into a discussion of social networks. In our country, despite the high importance of the issue of social networks and the increasing use of social networks by people, the researches that have been done in the field of political behaviorism are less focused on the persuasive methods used in social networks, which are one of the main elements in the field of communication, and on the other hand, the effect of these persuasive methods of social networks on people's voting behavior, which is one of the main elements in the field of political behavior and sociology, has been studied. Based on this, in this article, a structural-interpretive analysis of persuasive methods used in social networks and their effect on voters' behavior has been done. 

This study was done with a qualitative approach, the research approach of this study is inductive-deductive in terms of data collection logic. For this purpose, it should be briefly stated, first by examining the theoretical and theoretical foundations of the research based on the synthesis of the results of the reviewed researches, the criteria related to common persuasive methods in social networks were identified based on the Delphi analysis, according to the two criteria, the average and the agreement coefficient. They are confirmed or deleted and finally, through structural-interpretive analysis, the identified layers are prioritized in the form of a pattern and explained from the point of view of the level of penetration and influence. In this research, 15 specialists from the fields of media, communication, and social sciences were selected through homogenous sampling and participated in two parts: overview and structural-interpretive analysis.

Based on the analysis, it was determined that the most effective and influential method of persuasion adopted by election candidates, stimulating collective emotions and creating enthusiasm is established as two indicators of the instrumental function of persuasion. In fact, election candidates and their supporting groups try to influence collective and group emotions by producing content on social networks and increasing enthusiasm among them. At the least effective level, there is a massive showing of the competitors' weaknesses, which can also be said, this type of advertising behavior conveys the most negative aspect of influence to the people, because it makes the capabilities and realistic slogans of the candidate in question. Negative advertising against the competitor will be lost and will reduce the motivation of the followers

In fact, election candidates and their supporting groups try to influence collective and group emotions by producing content on social networks and increasing excitement among them. This issue greatly affects the increase of people's support, because such messages target the audience's perceptual bias and cause wider advertisements, both on social networks and in the minds of the audience. Messages are produced with the aim of mobilizing emotions and inciting them in social networks, causing stronger support groups to come into action. The messages that are published in social networks with the aim of informing about the candidate's future policies and plans, are aimed at creating more understanding about the goals and plans of the person in question, and the more these policies and strategies are based on facts, the more the audience will be affected.