Abstract: The subject of the present article is visual political rhetoric with its manifestations in social networks. Worldwide there are certain research traditions in this respect and in Bulgaria the problems attract the attention of the researchers in social sciences and humanities. The focus in this paper is on a problem, which is characterized by timeliness and provoking research interest from different scientific perspectives. Based on the basic concepts derived from two theories in visual rhetoric (those of Group M and McQuarrie & Mick) a methodology for research is established, that proves and is based on the descriptive approach in selection and creation of initial corpus for research. Initial results from the analysis of the visual content are presented and also concrete examples of social networks’ profiles of Bulgarian politicians and Bulgarian citizens are provided.
Key words: visual rhetoric, social networks, political discourse.
Rhetoric and Communications Е-Journal, Issue 10, October 2013, http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464