Friday, November 06, 2020

How social media shaped political campaigns.

 On November 3, 2020, America held its election to decide its 46th President. Social media has become a popular way of communication. Social media platforms have no rules where you can twist people's words and manipulate things said. Examples of this are meme's when something happens. People take a picture or a quick video of a funny situation. This can be anything from a crying face of Micheal Jordan to a celebrity making a strange face. These small short videos can imply a certain view of a situation. I believe that this can cause visions in a certain way. This, along with the number of followers that an individual has on their social media platforms. Some celebrities have over a million followers on a single social media platform. They can influence multiply people and quickly share their views with all of their followers. With people now getting a lot of news from their social media instead of reading the newspaper or watching the news. People want their news as quickly and on the go. 

The positive thing for those running for public office in America social media has made it easier to run for office. The political hopefuls no longer have to have connections with influential donors or using their own deep pockets. This helps incoming hopefuls get through election cycles and have a possibility to unseat the incumbents. Normally 90% of incumbents are reelected due to "the incumbency advantage." If you look at the way that politicians communicate today, it's very different than the way that they used to communicate five, 10 years ago," states a marketing professor Pinar Yildirim said. Politicians would speak through official speakers, or they would be on tv, they would be in print or official online newspapers. Today politicians are communicating through places like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate to use the medium, which was just coming into existence and displaying signs of future potential during his 2008 bid. And Donald Trump takes to Twitter almost daily to express himself without the filter of traditional media. 

Some of the negatives of social media for those running for public office in America is the internet is instant and forever. Donald Trump is an example of this where whatever he puts on Twitter, even if it is deleted, somebody has already taken a tweet picture. This also gives people a chance to say whatever they like with the safety and comfort of being behind their computer screens. Previous politicians would have to go onto different news outlets to make statements. And the statements of people that would be shared with smaller groups and family members. It will be interesting to see how states change their political party as people will change their news sources.  

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