Social Media 's Influence On Our Lives

Around the time of the 2016 presidential election, there were many fake news stories that circulated and that had an immense impact on the views of the presidential candidates. Some of the most popular fake news stories was about the declining health of Hillary Clinton and when Donald Trump said in a 1998 interview, “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country” (Lever). However, these stories were completely false but it was believable to the American citizens. In a 2017 study, it is concluded that Facebook is becoming the world’s largest news source and Facebook is reported to have over 30,000 fake news stories (Kamman). Fake news is problematic to democracy because it detracts from real issues that politicians should work on; nonetheless, it influences a person’s view on the politician. For example, during the 2016 presidential election, a fake news story surfaced with claims that members of the democratic

The introduction of media has significantly impacted the way candidates campaign during the United States presidential debate cycles. While mainstream media outlets (i.e. televised newscasts, radio broadcasts) have played an important role in providing live coverage of events in which candidates spoke about their platforms, the purpose of the media was completely altered with the introduction of social media, specifically Twitter. While journalism was meant to be an unbiased practice, Twitter and other social media sites have taken on the role of a biased news source, forever changing presidential elections in the process.

Twitter and Facebook offer a direct route for delivering information to a large audience. Posts on these social media sites are not required to be accurate, and often present little to no factual content. With social media it is very easy to make misinformation appear accurate, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the average user to differentiate between what is and isn't credible. Social media is now used to spread propaganda and intentionally deceive. The spread of false information is not new to politics, in fact, it's been around since its onset. The difference now however is the speed at which fake news can travel. According to Rachel Ehrenberg 90 million Americans use Twitter in a given month and it is estimated that half of all Americans are on Facebook with another 5 million people frequenting other social media sites. As a result, the moment something is posted, it has the potential to be seen by thousands almost instantly. This contributes to misinformation being spread quickly and efficiently.

In “Presidential Campaigning and Social Media”, John Hendricks and Dan Schill conduct a research and show percentages of how many people from each political party rely on social media during elections. Their research showed that 48 percent of democrats and 34 percent of republicans think that keeping up with political news through the use of social media is very important (Hendricks). People think that it is important because they cannot only express their own opinions through social media sites, but they can also look at other people’s opinions and compare the two. Although this can be a reliable source to use during elections, this has become an issue recently, especially in today’s election with a figure as big as Donald Trump in the running. Many people only know Donald Trump from his social status instead of his political standings; therefor many people that support him are doing so for the wrong reasons. People are voting for him not because of his political views, but instead because of his social

Perloff writes, “If you are right that other people are influenced by the media, then it certainly stands to reason that you too should be effected” (Perloff, 252). This relates to the idea of Trumps social media simply due to the fact that people think others are affected by his internet presence more than they are. While everyone on social media sees a lot of the same things, many seem to think that they are immune to its powerful effects when in fact they are not. Overall, Trumps vast internet presence helped cast him above his opponents and garner unlikely votes that led to his

Kaye is the professor in the School of Journalism & Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She studies the effects media has on consumers and how they use new technologies to get their information. Thomas J. Johnson got his Ph.D. at the University of Washington and he researches how people’s political attitudes and behaviors are affected by digital and social media. The topic discussed in the article is the influence media platforms have on the public’s interpretation on politics, which are the areas of expertise and research that the two authors work on. Kaye studies the technologies behind presenting information and Johnson studies the effects media can have on people’s attitudes and behaviors. This validates them both as credible sources. The article is published in a journal that specifically discusses broadcasting and electronic media, which also acts as the authors’ targeted audience––people familiar and interested in broadcasting and media. This is interesting, when the article talks about how some people can be tunnel visioned into believing only some sources and exposes the audience they’re writing

In particular, the Web enables users to share their ideas and thoughts about politics through social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. These users can post their opinions about general politics, share articles with their followers, and write their own opinion articles. Public social networking sites cannot fact check everything their users write and cannot restrict the content their user's post. This creates a chain reaction where users continue the cycle of “see it, like it, repost it.” As a result, this lack of regulations often leads to false or misreported information to be spread and read by other people.  A majority of these readers will repost anything they read that agree with their opinions. Thus, the cycle is continued. These readers are either too gullible and believe anything they read or are simply too lazy to acquire their information from credible sources and repost whatever they see.

Television is one of the most powerful tools of media; however it is quickly being replaced by social media. Social media has become the most important source for news and information the American public relies on, and beyond that, perhaps, the most powerful single influence on the public. People believe what they read on social media as facts. Minutes after Malaysian Airlines flight 17 went down a US defense intelligence analyst

Any conflict exemplified within the media tends to have an impact of society. Whether it be an article or news story that affects someone’s political views, or a social media post that may change someone’s communal views. A small faction of people pushing to express a specific belief can go a long way, especially when utilizing the various number of media outlets the world possesses at its fingertips. So, what exactly did the social media users of this time have to say about the election? Donald trump is known for his constant appearance in the media for saying, or doing something that results in controversy. In the article, “Donald Trump BLASTS ‘“Black Lives Matter”’ Movement in a MAJOR WAY! BOOM” Kosar discusses Donald Trump’s reaction to Black Lives Matter movement protestors arriving to his rally. During the speech he was originally giving at his rally, he patronized fellow candidate, Bernie Sanders for allowing protesters to shut down his rally in Seattle Washington. He also went on to say that he would allow his supporters to fight for him if Black Lives Matter. If this does not sound like a bad candidate for presidency, then what is? His impulse reactions to conflicts serve as a bad character trait for a President to posses. The article also shows the protesters’ reaction to Donald Trump’s discourteous remarks. Twitter users took to the social media platform to notify the Black Lives Matter movement that Donald Trump is taking them lightly, and that they need to show

During the 2016 campaign season, Donald Trump’s frequently uttered phrase “fake news” made the headlines week after week and continues to be discussed well into his presidency. Fake news is defined by Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow as “news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, and could mislead readers.” Facebook, in particular, had a significant issue with the spread of fake news reports and articles during the 2016 election. An increasing number of residents in the United States are creating social media accounts and turning to these websites for quick access to political knowledge and social media companies are struggling to slow the spread of fake news. Managing the rise of online false stories is a problem never encountered before in presidential elections and is likely to remain an issue in future

Social media by itself is not a threat, for it was created for the purpose of entertainment, like television. Although television also holds the important job of conveying information using the news. In our current times, social media is the new method of obtaining information quickly about events. Even though when most people search social media rather than actual news companies, they do not realize how unreliable it truly is. Twitter especially is credited with playing a role as a source of credible information. It has evolved far beyond its origin of being a simple way to keep in contact with friends. In a recent study done by ING, it was shown that one-third of journalists said social media posts are not a reliable source of information. When news of recent events is given on Twitter, it is called into question because it is unable to be determined how true it is. As stated by Johnson and Kaye we must rely on “the credibility of its user.” This proves that social networks are not credible sources at all and Twitter is a social network so how can it be trusted?

“The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media – over 100 million people! I can go around them”, declares a Donald Trump tweet from just a few days ago. With over 32.5 M followers and 35 K tweets, Donald Trump is currently at the top of the list for biggest social influencers, which means even if a fraction of his followers are influenced by his words he has a large effect on our society. Although many political figures have argued that social media connects them with today millennials; the government should create a boundary whenever an elected official abuses their authority with negative, confidential, or outrageous social media postings.

Donald Trump’s use of Twitter is revolutionary for any President of The United States and has changed the way that information can be communicated. As a student who has followed the rise of social media, I was extremely interested in exploring Donald Trump’s use of twitter. This topic is also exceedingly relevant to our learning outcome of showing the way mass media use language to inform, persuade, or entertain. This is especially prevalent since social media and Twitter specifically have developed into means of mass media.

When you are suffering from a debilitating addiction, it 's easy to feel alone, isolated, and frightened during recovery. However, the emergence of social media has helped connect the world in a way never imagined. And you can tap into these brand new resource as a tool towards fueling our recovery and regaining a life of sobriety.

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.