How does a political leader become charismatic on social media? In Charisma goes viral: Péter Magyar and the digital construction of political authority, Rudolf Metz, Eszter Farkas and Veronika Kövesdi examine this question through the case of Péter Magyar’s rapid political rise in 2024. Rather than treating charisma as an inherent or stable personality trait, the article conceptualises it as a relational process that emerges between leaders and followers. Political leaders can signal extraordinariness, construct shared identities, articulate visions and frame collective challenges, but these signals acquire charismatic meaning through followers’ interpretations and responses.

The study uses quantitative content analysis to examine 486 Facebook posts published between 11 February and 10 June 2024. The findings show that digital charisma does not function as a uniform “engagement engine”: different signals are associated with distinct forms of follower response. Relational, emotional and identity-based cues were particularly important for affective engagement. Presenting the leader as similar and close to followers, invoking cultural and historical references, mobilising shared emotions and emphasising common values were associated with stronger emotional reactions. By contrast, signals of political competence and communicative performance showed no independent positive association with engagement. The article therefore suggests that digital charisma increasingly relies not only on heroic extraordinariness, but also on relatability, emotional proximity, symbolic belonging and shared identity.

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