Values in on-line presence of presidential candidatesin the election in 2015. Cases of Andrzej Duda, Bronisław Komorowski and Paweł Kukiz
The research on axiological dimension of chosen communities most commonly concerns only the values declared in surveys, which frequently do not reflect the actual situation. In recent years, interpersonal communication undergoes a shift towards the Internet. Netspeak, however, is not limited to lingual content — multimedia bits photographs, movies, emoticons, etc. start playing a bigger role and replace or even supersede textual messages. Transported via this channel are collective symbols — functional signs which have positive or negative associations and a specified cultural meaning. We can distinguish the representatives of different cultures using them. This report aims to present the findings of a research conducted on the profiles of three most prominent 2015 election candidates on the Facebook portal. The author endeavors to determine how collective symbols appear in communication mediated via new technologies, and which of them can be used to distinguish between candidates. Analysed is both textual and visual content. The paper and the results contained could assist in the study of modern language and contribute to identification and/or verification of collective symbols used in politics.