Mass Communication : The Pros And Cons Of Political Social Media

    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

In the past ten years the way we as a people communicate has changed greatly. No longer is it uncommon for conversations to not be face to face and now more so than ever conversations take place through text. As with any change there will be and is push back to it. The conflict over the consequences of the social media dependent society have now intensified as a result of social media playing ever greater roles in how politics is seen and even conducted. This has been a major societal question since the presidential election of 2008 and the debate has been written about, discussed, and argued by thousands of different politicians,

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

Congress, 80% of our representatives use social media to engage with constituents. That has never been done before and is changing how politicians respond. We even see some votes in Congress made based on their Facebook feedback.”(The Economic) The Internet is like being there in the whole scene. Missing out information is impossible, a simply Google search, all the information is stored. When computers came out, it cost thousands, now it’s cheaper and faster. There’s tablets and phones with the opportunity to surf the web. More than half the candidates have some type of social media, either them or a fan.

Trump began posting extreme messages to stand out from other candidates during the election and still posts intense content to create more attraction in his presidency. As a matter of fact, the article “How Marketing Helped Donald Trump Win the 2016 Election.” agrees when it states that “Trump created and communicated an offering “value” of delivering change in exchange for the risk and time “price” voters paid to consider voting for him. Trump’s communication plan used the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” to resonate with groups or target markets of people he wanted to reach…”. Essentially, Trump would post messages that would promote such as building a wall and creating a travel ban to prevent illegal immigration. He made more risks to achieve his goal of winning more people over by targeting

However, political communication has experienced a great deal of change within the past ten years. Now, politicians have caught on to using social media in order to connect with younger demographics of voters who are participating in elections and political conversation more than ever. Successfully integrating yourself into pop culture is a political

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

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.

Clinton took social media sites like Twitter and Instagram to assert her plans and political beliefs in a professional manner, but Trump employed it to easily profess outrageous complaints, develop further altercations, and erupt virtual fights with any of his naysayers–which viewers found entertaining. Amid these actions, Donald created a bully pulpit, a platform used to project a motive, out of Twitter. Once again, internet masses discovered his tweets to be outrageous and foolish stunts. It became performance for individuals and left several wondering how he can surpass his own absurdity–thoughts not generally associated with a President-elect. As a result, Twitter gave Donald Trump an easy and quick communication platform to speak directly to followers. Media strategist, Alex Wallace, regards that "the consumer wants a one-to-one relationship… the person who's engaging with the consumer" (Fortune). Nonetheless, his outrageous tweets ended up on every major news network the next day, putting Trump in the spotlight and Hillary at the butt of most of his jokes. While most to all individuals judge his comments sexist, racist, hypocritical, or all of the above, others respect his actions for creating his own marketing podium. Newt Gingrich, past House Speaker, concludes: “it is very good for him to tweet. I think the country gets into it. I

These assumptions raised many questions to research as well. Moody, Cohen, and Fournon (2013) raised the first question of “What types of messages did candidates disseminate utilizing tweets during the 2011-12 Presidential Primaries” (p. 3). The next question brought up by Moody, Cohen, and Fournon (2013) was, “Were runner-up candidates more likely than front-runners to include a negative tone in their tweets” (p. 3). Then the third question stated by Moody, Cohen and Fournon (2013) was, “Were runner-up candidates more likely than front-runners to attack their opponents in their tweets” (p. 3) Finally, the fourth and final question raised by Moody, Cohen, and Fournon (2013) stated, “What interactive units did politicians use within their tweets. To what type of content did they link? What was the tone of candidate hashtags” (p. 3).

The current President of the United States, Barack Obama, has been a particularly modern president, using social media in many ways to bolster his political agenda and even setting a few online records along the way1. He utilizes social media to not only seem more modern and knowledgeable of current technology, but as a gateway to reach more people through appeals to his audience’s pathos and ethos. He garners public support and gives out specific information2 through his new, ‘personal’ twitter3, therefore we will focus mostly on that account. In the 21st century, it is incredibly important to understand the close relationship between social media and rhetoric.

Throughout history, media has played a significant role in how an individual obtains power. The Presidential campaign of Donald Trump utilized specific aspects of modern-day media to ultimately win the election. Although the medium upon which people communicate has changed over time, the message itself has stayed relatively the same. The world’s latest medium however can be seen in the exponential growth of social media as well as news media outlets. Through the use of social media, Trump captured the world’s attention and garnered international headlines.

Presidential Elections in 2008 has changed the way of campaigning and expressing effectively. Digital technology allowed leaders to interact with voters, transforming the campaigning totally into a new level. Both the lead contenders Barack Obama and John McCain engaged with people by using Social media. But there were many apparent discrepancies between Obama’s use and his opposition use of social media as their medium to communicate with people.

Illnesses, educational systems, research, global warming issues, and international conflicts are issues that long term effects. By the time people discuss an issue, come to conclusion and complete the task, their will be a greater repercussion. On the other hand, the time span of politicians was always the next election, typically four years, or else anything between two and seven years. This leads to the problem of politicians using social media as a chance to gain popularity for the next election. For example, Donald Trump leads the polls for Republican presidential candidates, but he has little to no experience in politics. People create instant online popularity ratings for reigning office holders, pressing them for short term solutions. The politicians then react by putting a quick fix to the problem. These issues cannot be mended with a “mickey mouse”; problems like these need leaders who are knowledgeable and can think of solutions that will not hurt society in the upcoming

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.