Do Social Media Influence Voters?

President Obama not only was the first African American to be elected, but was also the first presidential candidate to effectively use social media as a major campaign strategy. In many ways the election of Barack Obama mimicked that of John F. Kennedy, both having changed politics forever. For John F. Kennedy it was the television and for Obama it was the internet. Barack Obama’s strategy of using the internet as a campaigning tool was a key to his victory in the election. He used the internet to organize his supporters. He had many more friends and followers on his Facebook and Twitter than his opponent John McCain did. The social media landscape looks a lot different now. There has been an increasing number of social media tools now than there were

    In today’s modern time, social media has a huge impact on political environment. How the World Changed Social Media claims, “ Such political activity as there is on social media is usually at a national level and is conducted mainly by supporters…” (Miller 142,143). Social media presents a national level bias. During the last ten years, politics has gained much traction on these sites.  For example, campaigns for national

More and more people are getting their news from social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Tumbler and many more, and candidates are using this to their advantage. This election is probably one of the first were candidates have actually used social media sites as their direct communication line to potential voters. Social media today had gone from gossip and family pictures to a location for political strategy. Thanks largely to trumps regular social media first declarations and its actually working particularly with the younger voters. A study released last year from the Pew Research Center that Marissa Lang cited showed that “Among 18- to 29-year-olds, nearly two-thirds said social media is the most helpful means of learning new things about politics.” (Lang, 2016). Even if the candidate isn’t the one posting the video or message in the end it will still end up on social media. For example, Trump had announced his plan to ban all Muslims from entering the united states in South Carolina not on social media however it found its way there and spread like wild fire. This sent those who were outraged to respond in disgust and those who encouraged it to share it so that their friends could see and so on and so on. Even if those who shared it did it to

Does Nicolas Carr, author of “How Social Media Is Ruining Politics” provide enough evidence that social media is ruining politics? The answer is a very obvious yes. Overtime, social media has slowly polarized the political perception of the American people. Social Networking is a new, popular medium that has changed the nature of political conversation. Therefore, it has become both a good thing and a bad thing. It has encouraged those who once did not partake in the political process to participate. Social networking is very useful to find out news and information ahead of the news media.. “It has become an easy way for political candidates to connect and communicate with the American people.” (Carr 1) While social media might provide the candidates with a form of convenience because it simplifies and speeds up the communication process, it also provides many ways for their campaigns to be easily and deliberately attacked. Unfortunately, what receives the most attention on social media is outrageous statements. Some candidates like Donald Trump know how to use this to their advantage. The danger in this is that candidates tend to use abrasive soundbites to grab the attention of the social media user. Unfortunately, the abrasive soundbites are often taken out the intended context. Other candidates like Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush did not come to this realization as quickly because they did not want to take the chance of hindering their image. They understood that a

In fact, the 2008 presidential election has even been coined as the “Facebook Election”. Although the concept of social media was still on the rise, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube were not completely unaware of their role/leverage in American electoral politics. In fact, during the presidential campaign, each site found their own way to encourage users to discuss the election or issues contained

On September 26, 1960 the presidential debate was televised for the first time. Kennedy was charismatic and confident, while Nixon seemed flustered. This made Nixon seem like a bad choice for president. For Obamas's election, he used social media in his favor with the most shared thread ever. Social media is important to presidential election because it keeps people up-to-date, makes some candidates more popular, and has influenced past elections.

From the Huffington Post in the article “The Game Changer: Social Media and the 2016 Presidential Election” author R. Kay Green (2015) discusses strategies the candidates are using in order to win over the minority vote, which is to connect the millennial generation with social media. Specifically, social media has been shown to improve voting patterns because the younger generation can see and read about the election through social media. For instance, the subject matter first appeared in the 2008 elections as Barack Obama was the first candidate to use social media to his advantage, with this strategy the candidate was able to gain more voters. Quickly, Obama’s campaign tactic is obviously seen throughout the 2016 election with majority of the candidates now appearing on more than one technology platform. Throughout the article R. Kay Green uses ethos, pathos, and logos to support and express the impact that social media has had on the 2016 presidential elections.

The 2016 presidential election may happen to be one of the most memorable elections to have ever been. From the campaign speeches, to the Democratic and Republican National conventions, and even the presidential debates; Americans seemed to constantly be voicing their opinions on every aspect of the election, and who they believe is the more suitable candidate for president, especially on social media. The 2016 presidential election marks one of the more recent elections where we start to see social media’s impact on it. We see how presidential candidates use social media as a platform to voice about updates on their campaign as well as communicate with their supporters. With the continue rise in the number of social media users as well as politicians now using social media, how much has its impact had on elections and Americans outlook on the campaign.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media websites have affected American elections in many forms. Candidates are now turning their attention to the people on social networks Murse (2015). They 're trying to draw more people like Millennials because they use more technology. These applicants are trying to step up and make a huge difference from the election of 2008. While in the running, the usage of social media is being used to announce what he or she is doing for the presidential campaign. For this reason, candidates, controversy, public opinion, social media and its 21st century media outlets have become the center of the 2016 election (CIO, 2015).

Overall, our theory that social media use is a cause for voter turnout was not supported through our tests. Our results from our hypothesis chi-square test, our regression analysis, and also our predicted probabilities test show that social media use does not have a significant effect on voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election. Our theory may have been flawed in thinking that less people are dependent on social media than we originally thought. This can been seen in our graphic that a majority people do not use social media at all for obtaining political information. Social media sites are still on the rise and are not as widely/frequently used as we previously anticipated. The millennial generation and generation z are the most common

The Pew study is an indication why voter registration is so important for candidates to use and influence voters. Using innovative tools to engage eligible voters to register on social media is a way for candidates to obtain data for their campaigns. There are organizations like Rock the Vote and National Voter Registration Day, who's creating tools for social media. The importance of voter registration on social media is to inform voters of their civic duty to register and

It was 2011. President Barak Obama was 3 years into his first term as President of the United States, and set his sights on another one. Winning the 2012 election would be a challenge though, with many people tuning out of broadcast television, one of the main ways political candidates advertise. Enter social media marketing, more specifically Facebook. Obama’s campaign made an unprecedented turn to social media to gain a lead in the election, and eventually a win for Barak Obama. Nate Lubin, Director of Digital Marketing for the Obama for America campaign says on Facebook’s business marketing page, “Facebook allowed us to reach all of our constituencies, where they were and with the content we needed them to see and engage with.” If Obama’s campaign had to be innovative in 2012, how did the candidates of the 2016 election use his success with social media to further their own campaigns in a new, social media driven society? Companies now work to not only get content to people it will resonate with most, but analyze the psyche of social media users in order to better target them with content more likely to be received by them. With digital media playing an unprecedented role in the political campaign arena, psychological profiling is not just being employed to micro target a specific voter through social media, but successfully getting the right messages through to people who will best receive them.

Other data provided by Brady and colleagues, shows that 38% users of Twitter or Social networking sites (SNS) use those social media to contribute to politics or social issues giving them “likes”. Conservative republicans have done 42%, and Liberal democrats 52%, both are especially likely to use the “like” button (Brady et al.). The cost to acquire political knowledge in the internet is dispensable, people can realize their activities at any time of day or night from any local with a computer and an internet connection. It is cheaper to create political groups and have the capacity to communicate with a large number of potential supporters even if they are in different regions geographically. The internet is a global village, with closeness and interconnectedness.

Does Nicolas Carr, author of “How Social Media Is Ruining Politics” provide enough evidence that social media is ruining politics? The answer is a very obvious yes. Over time, social media has slowly, but clearly polarized the political perception of the American people. It is a new, popular medium that has changed the nature of political conversation. Therefore, it has become both a good thing and a bad thing. It has been of great benefit in the political realm because it has encouraged those who once did not partake in the politics to participate.

Social media has grown at phenomenal rates over the past decade, with its rise being easily visible in several fields such as publishing, business, and activism, among others. The rise of its use in the field of politics is well known by those who are on and off social media, as a result of increasing number of politicians using this global platform to their maximum advantage.