Transmedia in politics: the same different story

What are the Electo campaign of Yes, we can a matrix?Both share that they managed to interact with the public through stories transmitted in different media and platforms, connecting with the intellect and also with emotions.Is what is known as transmedia narrative.Although we have put an example to the architect of current political communication, it is not necessary to be Obama to make a transmedia campaign.

Transmedia narratives are fashionable.Thanks to mythical films such as Superman, Star Wars or Harry Potter we associate them with cinema, although they are not exclusive to any sector.We find transmedia in entertainment, in culture, in journalism and, of course, also in politics.

But what is transmedia?This is a narrative strategy that uses the storytelling to tell a story in a fractional way through several platforms, even combining digital and non -digital media.We do not talk about a simple language adaptation for each format.Each platform tells a part, so that the story that is told on a mobile device is not the same as that of the comic or the one we see in the cinema.In fact, they are complementary stories that take advantage of what each platform knows best to create different user experiences.This ceases to be a passive consumer and gets involved in history, participating in it.

To work, the secret is to generate interesting stories that believe curiosity and that hook the user to continue their development through the different platforms, dedicating time and participating in them.

The creator of the concept was Henry Jenkins in 2003, who explained that "each franchise must be sufficiently autonomous", so that the movie is not necessary to understand the video game and vice versa.

A transmedia world can begin in any medium.The world of the Lord of the Rings was born in the novels, that of Star Wars in the cinema and the Pokémon comes from a game for the Nintendo Gameboy.

Transmedia paradigm is the Star Wars saga.Not only has a films franchise generated, but it has also produced sales of almost any type of product: toys, comic, novels, jugos, electronic gadgets, clothing or literature of its alternate and extended universes.In addition, it includes a dozen television productions - among which are the different animation series known as Star Wars: The Clone Wars- and even radio versions.

Fiction is not exclusive field for transmedia.The 2008 Obama Electoral Campaign is considered the greatest example of transmedia transmedia employment in political communication.This unknown Illinois senator became president of the United States changing the way to campaign through a message and the tools he used to disseminate him.Social networks like Facebook and MySpace broadcast their messages, YouTube spread the official videos of the candidate and the users themselves distributed own elaboration videos.

Without internet there would be no obama.Social networks were decisive in their electoral success.Through them he built his story, the story of the son of a young peasant and a student of Kenya (Obama, 2009, p.12).For the expert Marcela López Ponce, Obama's campaign is the "example of the good use of transmedia narratives", since the participation of all kinds of people was achieved.He managed to mobilize young people and new voters, who shared the publications, recorded singing the song Yes, We Can, and later, the videos uploaded to the network.This strategy is "a clear example of citizen participation and construction", one of the characteristics of transmedia narratives.

The online campaign also served as a platform to create activities with presence and visibility in the street, as the consultant Xavier Peytibi recalls: “The great success of this strategy is that what was uploaded on the network went down to the street and exponentially multiplied its visibility"."It was about involving them, making them participate, that they generated positive information on their walls and personal profiles, that they work in favor of Obama with their online contacts and with their contacts on the street," says Peytibi.

On January 8, 2008, he spoke his famous change and hope speech, We Can.These three words fell among the Democratic voters, but especially, among a segment of the electorate that had never participated in politics.For Professor Carlos A.Scolari, the most important thing is that it was "the first electoral campaign that was made in a different way to the previous.

You don't have to be Obama

Develop transmedia narratives is available to any political leader, you don't have to be Obama.Let's think of a local government that decides to transform an infravy zone.The designed message is that this action will improve the quality of life of citizens.To spread it, different channels and formats will be used: website with Google Maps, infographic with historical data of the neighborhood, videos on YouTube with the stories of its neighbors (an old man, a child, a young couple, a merchant ...), interviews inMedia of Municipal Responsible, the rhythm of the works explained by technicians in social networks, direct with Facebook Live to see the works, Twitter thread with project data, microvideos with the experience of the workers who are working on the ground ...That story can be told in many ways, as many as ideas we have and citizens are willing to get involved.

And, as explained by the expert Ramón Ramón about Transmedia narratives, “in this new society, in which the predominant papers of intermediation of political parties and unions disappear, it is not about technology, it is not about digitizing theBureaucratization of the administration;It is about giving a leading role to citizens and changing the communicative axis ”.

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