Facing Off: A Comparative Analysis of Obama and Romney Facebook Timeline Photographs

Social media sites have become the new battleground in U.S. presidential politics. In helping to create an identifiable image for candidates, photographs on Facebook have become a convenient outlet for displaying both advertising and candid images of the candidate. While scholars have begun to recognize the impact of photographs on political campaign, Grabe and Bucy have identified potential frames that news photographs enable campaigns to use in hopes of casting candidates in a particular light. This essay utilizes a close semiotic analysis to understand how Internet images convey meaning that helps to create those frames. The essay concludes with a discussion of the utility of semiotic analysis in understanding campaign images and the potential for Internet images for framing campaigns.