In today’s society the use of social media in political campaigns has grown quickly in importance. There is positive and negative effects of social media playing a role in political campaigns. These social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are bringing voters and politicians closer together. In the past years, voters had to get their information from the media through newspapers, television, and the radio. According to “The Role Played by Social Media In Political Participation and Electoral Campaigns” states, “Personal communication via social media brings politicians and parties closer to their potential voters. It allows politicians to communicate faster and reach citizens in a more targeted manner and vice versa, without the intermediate role of mass media.” It is allowing politicians to have more of a voice and connection to their supporters quickly through social media. This can be a positive and negative affect. On the positive side, the information is getting sent directly from them. So mass media isn’t in their way because it is a direct connection between politicians and supporters. On the negative side, politicians such as Donald Trump have to be aware of what they are saying because it’s coming directly from them and can negatively impact our country. This is furthly explained in the article “How Donald Trump Mastered Twitter..”. It explains how he negatively uses Twitter as a way to rant and fight with other politicians. His use of social media is showing how social media can negatively affect political campaigns. In the article “Cell Phones, Social Media and Campaign 2014” it explains more positive effects media has on political campaigns. It has a similar message for providing a closer connection to the voters that the article “The Role Played by Social Media” has. The article states, “Voters from both parties place a similar emphasis on the deeper connections that social media allows them to form with the candidates they support”. This idea is supported by a study done in 2014 comparing the results found in 2010. The study shows overall an increase in mobil device usage in keeping up with political figures and campaigns. A major reason they followed political figures on social media was to get political information before anyone else and felt more of a personal connection to the candidates. I believe that the “one quarter of registered voters now getting political news on their cell phones” will increase as the years goes on.
Feb 19