Social Media And Political Analysis

Michael Cornfield, an adjunct professor at George Washington University and the director of Research for the Democracy Online Project, remembers when throughout his campaign, Democratic candidate Howard Dean was interacting with the “Tens of thousands of his supporters [that] were congregating at monthly ‘Meetups’, and conversing in ‘discussion groups’ and ‘blogs’” (Cornfield). Because he personally communicated with his followers using various networks, it became possible for him to clarify topics that may not have been otherwise covered. Not to mention, by giving up time to answer questions for individuals, he was able to show his drive to win over the voters. According to Jodi Enda, an award-winning journalist and the assistant managing editor for special projects at CNN Politics, throughout the whole process of posting information to social networks, candidates are able to communicate with many people from areas that they may never be able to go to during their campaign. It becomes possible to give the messages they want to directly to the viewers because of the Internet (Enda). Before all types of electronic media, it was much harder to get information from one place to another. Information could have been intercepted and manipulated by outside influences during its long journey towards its destination. Using Twitter or

In recent decades, well-established, conventional methods of political participation in the United States have begun to be uprooted and replaced by new forms of interaction between the government and the American people, accompanied by changing trends in which groups of Americans seem to most participate and influence our political system. An increase in media coverage of politics, as well as vast expansion of social media networks, have resulted in more youth participation and discussion of current events in politics. Unfortunately, online interaction seems to replace more effective means of political participation, and the media in general has a tendency to cause Americans to lose trust in the

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

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

As technology continues to advance over time, political parties are able to further advance their operations. The use of social media on politics in our society has impacted all Americans; regardless of their party. One of these impacts is that technology has created a fundamental flow of communication, which, as a result, makes it easier for the candidates to persuade their party. An example of this communication would be things such as, but not limited to: newspapers, television and even twitter. During this election year, if a viewer is watching television, they are guaranteed to see at least one commercial promoting a candidates belief, in order for viewers to gain knowledge and opinion on the stance of each party.

Social media has become a major part of communication today. It has changed the way people find each other, share interest and ideas, not to mention how it has changed how companies advertise and communicate with their customers. Based on this year alone, social media has impacted politics in a major way. The goal was to reach the young generation by engaging in social media platforms by simply posting, commenting and video sharing [10]. Social networking sites has mobilized potential voters all over the world.

On the internet, when the politics news come around, people put their own opinion about campaigns, government and activism. Statistics show, that “66% of social media users (39% of American adults) have engaged in one of eight civic or political activities with social media: 38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted, 35% have used social networking sites to encourage people to vote, 34% have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues, 33% have used the tools to repost content related to political or social issues that was originally posted by someone else, 31% have used the tools to encourage other people to take action on a political or social issue, 28% have used the tools to post links to political stories or articles for others to read,

Social media usage in political campaigns is becoming more prevalent in the current political sphere. Candidates use social media in their campaigns for a number of different reasons. Social media is used in order to advertise their platforms to younger potential voters who have historically been absent from the polls on election day. In fact, Straus, et al. (2013) and Serazio (2014) found in their research that social media allows the politicians to speak directly to their constituents and discuss issues that are important to their potential voters.

The use of websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have become key components in the election of the president and their time in office. This importance can particularly be seen by examining the most recent presidential election in 2016. The 2016 campaign season, election, and subsequent presidency of Republican candidate, Donald Trump, are largely considered to be unlike any other in the history of America. Unlike campaigns in the past, every detail of the 2016 process was shared online. Not only did the public use

Website creation is huge for almost anything. Blogs, fundraising efforts, funny cat videos. The internet has it all, and with the click of a button or a one-word Google search, anyone can find almost anything. One of the most recent success stories of a politician using the internet to run a successful campaign is former President Barrack Obama. The grassroots campaign reached out to young people whose lives were highly digitized, and this use of modern technology is the reasoning behind Obama’s two term success story (Levenshus, 2010). Obama’s campaign raised money and informed the public of his policies in a highly effective way. 66 percent of people aged 18 to 24 voted for Obama in 2008, while about 45 percent of people aged 65 and older voted for him in the same year (Cornell University, 2008). The general beliefs of certain age demographics may play a role, but these numbers alone do not tell the full story. Voter turnout rate for young people in 2008 jumped by over ten percent from 2004. Obama reached a demographic that often gets left behind in elections by utilizing the technology that they were so engrossed in. Then, in the last election cycle, there was a major shift in how politicians reach the electorate. Social media, and the infamous tweets of Donald Trump, set a precedent in 2016.

Social media was one of the major critical points the candidates had to focus on during their campaign since it gave the ‘raw’ and ‘unedited’ view of society’s perspective and highlights what people think about each party/candidate, both positive and negative.

Television has had a huge impact on political elections since the 1950’s. They used television to reach out to the people to try and persuade them to pick their side to get into office. Nowadays social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are taking over and getting their messages across to certain groups. Social media has dramatically changed the way campaigns are run and how Americans interact with the elected officials. The way social media has impacted politics are:

In contrast, Norris, a renowned political scientist, states that “the more skeptical perspective suggests that online resources will be used primarily for reinforcement by those citizens who are already active and well connected via traditional channels, such as by middle-level actors like journalists and lobbyists, party members, and grassroots activists” (2). It is argued that people who use political resources in the internet were drawn by the population that were already among involved and interested in politicking. It was only adding existing channels, and feeding the converted people about it. In

Social media is playing an increasingly large role in the way campaigns are communicated to voters. In January 2016, 44% of U.S. adults reported having learned about the 2016 presidential election within the past week from social media, outpacing both local and national print newspapers (Timothy B. Lee, 2016). Moreover, as of July, 24% of the intereviewers said they have turned to the social media posts of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for news and information about the election – more than those who turn to either of the candidates’ websites or emails combined (15%)(Pew Research Center, 2016).

In the writing by Briggs (Young People and Political Participation: Teen Players) she notes that “social media are a critical new space for political discourse and engagement, which political institutions cannot afford to neglect” as the younger audiences use social media, and the people they follow as a guide it seemed vital that modern day politics has to infiltrate social media formats. This can be utilised by politicians and their agenda to widen the scope of their message. In the Praeger Handbook of Political Campaigning in the United States, Benoit investigates how successful an organised strategy using new media to win an election can be for political candidates. He states that “the innovative use of new media contributed to President Barack Obama's presidential campaign win in 2008” (Benoit, 2016). Obama's presidential campaign was one of the first to set the standard for political strategy online. The literature talks about the expansion of the internet and how that has provided a suitable platform for political agendas to grow exponentially. With the focus of the research project highlighting the specific use of social media it is important to reflect on the initial stages of online political campaigning, and to understand how Trump has cultivated this style of political