The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of political party organizations' digital communication by investigating what and how Swedish political youth associations communicate on TikTok. The purpose is realized through a case study of two youth associations, Moderata Ungdomsförbundet (MUF) and Sveriges Socialdemokratiska ungdomsförbund (SSU). The material is collected from a three-month period (November 1, 2023 - January 31, 2024) and the method of the thesis is a combination of quantitative multimodal content analysis and thematic analysis. The theoretical framework provides an understanding of the youth associations' conditions and expectations as an organization, as well as the media logics and norms that they need to adhere to in their communication. In the result it became clear that what the youth associations communicate differs. The most frequently communicated content from SSU consisted of entertainment content, closely followed by political content. MUF mostly focused on political content, but entertainment was also seen. Like previous research, only a small part of the material consisted of personal content. In terms of how the youth associations communicate, there was a similarity in that both associations used a comic style frequently, something that is typical for the platform and thus becomes a way for the youth associations to adopt the current style on TikTok. Similar to previous research, however, there was a lack of interactive tendencies on the part of MUF, which the platform invites. SSU appeared to use the interactive style in about half of the material. Similar to previous studies, we found that both SSU and MUF were diligent users of affordances such as music, audio, text, hashtag and location features. Tendencies we could see in how the youth associations communicated were also that they use platform trends and vernaculars frequently, which differs from previous research. We could thus state that both youth associations showed an adaptation to the platform dynamics.

Förvånansvärt lite forskning har ägnats åt ungdomars deltagande i partipolitiska ungdomsförbund trots en långvarig nedåtgående trend i medlemsantal. Studier visar att ungdomsförbunden har svårt att rekrytera samt behålla sina medlemmar vilket är oroande då vi behöver ungdomars röster i partipolitiken för vår representativa demokrati och för att ungdomförbunden är den främsta rektryteringskällan till våra moderpartier. Denna studie syftar till att få en djupare förståelse kring varför ett urval av ungdomar väljer att gå med i partipolitiska ungdomsförbund samt vad de har för motiv till att stanna kvar. Studien består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta ungdomar som är eller har varit aktiva inom ungdomsförbunden Ung Vänster och Moderateras ungdomsförbund MUF. För att undersöka detta har studien fokuserat på individuella resurser och faktorer och moraliska, sociala och materiella motiv till partipolitiskt deltagande. Resultatet visade på att individuella resurser och faktorer som politiskt intresse, motivation och sociala nätverk var viktiga kopplat till varför ungdomarna väljer att gå med i ett partipolitiskt ungdomsförbund. Sociala och moraliska motiv var högst förekommande bland ungdomarna för både varför de väljer att gå med men också vad som gör att de stannar kvar inom förbundet. / Surprisingly little research has been devoted to young peoples participation in party-affiliated youth organizations, despite a prolonged downward trend in membership numbers. Studies indicate that these youth organizations struggle to recruit and retain their members, which is concerning since young peoples voices in party politics are crucial for our reprecentative democracie and because these organizations serve as the primary recruitment source for their motherparties. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of why a selection of young individuals choose to join party-affiliated youth organizations and what motivates them to remain. The study consists of semi-structured interviews with eight youths who are or have been active within the youth organizations Ung Vänster and Moderaternas ungdomsförbund MUF. To investigate this, the study focuses on individual resources and factors and also moral, social, and material motives for political participation. The results indicate that individual resources and factors such as political interest, motivation, and social networks are significant in why young people choose to join a party-affiliated youth organization. Social and moral motives are most common motives among the youth for why they choose to join and what keeps them engaged within the organization.