Research Paper:
How does social media affect politics? especially twitter
America Rivera
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
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Social media is a place where people post public opinions about whatever they want, but when elections come around it most definitely has an effect on the outcome. Social media affects politics in both positive and negative ways. Social media presents a space where candidates can advocate for their campaigns, but also debate with others and even fans who disagree. One major example used in this paper will be Twitter. Twitter is the social media platform where is known to be that our current president is most active now.
Adding on, Social media can attract more voters and influence others as well as informing many and expressing people’s opinions. On the other hand, Social media can also create arguments and disagreements between candidates and people causing problems. This is why people should be careful with what they share, because for example, if a president shares something that the public disagrees with or it affects them negatively then there can be more protest. Also, in Brute force effects of mass media presence and social media activity on the electoral outcome, there was also research done on people and whos voting based on social media use and those informed through social media. The reading says “resonance on social media might matter more than activity in general. This is, of course, rather plausible. A candidate might be very active on social media, but if she or he has no audience, then that activity will not, obviously, translate into votes.” This shows another negative effect because if no one is watching the candidates or politicians post then it won’t even matter.
Not only can social media benefit some candidates or politicians, but it can benefit celebrities as well. If a celebrity shares an opinion on any political issue then they will be in the public eye meaning more attention will be drawn to them and they can even influence their followers to support their opinion. Besides celebrities benefitting, it benefits candidates because if a very famous celebrity with lots of followers influences them to support a certain candidate, then that candidate can possibly have more voters on their side. An article on the Washington post titles, Think celebrities get punished for being political? In fact, they get retweeted, states “paying special attention to those that mentioned a political candidate. We compared the number of retweets when celebrities took political stances to the number of retweets for their usual lifestyle tweets. With that, we could analyze whether political content was punished or rewarded with more or less attention. For each celebrity, we calculated the extent to which the retweets of their political comments deviated from the average number of retweets that celebrities usually receive.” This shows how celebrities take a role and if celebrities get retweeted then this means that they are influencing others as well as spreading these political ideas much faster than if it were just the candidates and politicians tweeting or posting political ideas on social media.
Elaborating on the negative effects, when politicians or candidates share an opinion on social media it can lead to more than just a debate on that social media platform. For example, Twitter is a perfect example when it comes to looking into our current president. A perfect example is when Donald Trump kept tweeting about building the wall on the border dividing Mexico and America. Many people began to get offended and started arguments and even began to protest. Many people who this affected negatively began to protest and develop more interest groups, mostly immigrants Not only were the people against this affected but also the people supporting his ideas began to advocate for his idea to become reality. This argument began political debates as well between candidates. It’s crazy how one share or post can start such things. This idea of building this wall also began a debate on DACA and definitely on social media because even I, someone who doesn’t follow any politicians or candidates saw people affected by these issues. Many retweeted or even posted videos of people being damaged and bothered due to their citizenship status. There were people who would retweet supporting the deportation of immigrants and there were other people retweeting to argue against these ideas.
I know we’re getting into twitter, but facebook is another perfect example. Facebook has the most users in the world as a social media platform and in the last election, Trump’s campaign spent so much money advertising his run over this platform. Facebook is used much more carefully when it comes to politics. In the reading, Technology firms shape political communication: The work of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Google with campaigns during the 2016 U.S. presidential cycle, it speaks on facebook and it’s analytics. This reading speaks upon a national convention of 2016 and what was at it revolving social media. The reading states “Facebook’s DNC presence reveals how the firm seeks to influence the ways that candidates and elected officials communicate with the public and journalists to understand public conversation on Facebook… Facebook staffers described the analytics platforms as displaying the conversations around the candidates and issues, which helped them understand the dynamics of the election. Candidates then could use the results”(pg.). This explains how journalists use Facebook analytics and data to better reach the views and ideas of those who may or may not support what they advocate for. They find the right people to target.
Adding, social media informs many people whether they are political voters or non-voters. The article, Political News in the News Feed: Learning Politics from Social Media speaks about Twitter and Facebook. It informs the reader of how informative social media can be when it comes to politics. It says “Theory suggests that social media may play a significant role in the learning of political information within the modern media environment” which shows that social media has changed and it is more modern meaning it works differently now. This article speaks about how modernized these platforms have become leading to change in politics and how users choose to participate when advocating for politicians. Since learning politics has become easier through social media platforms then this means that more people can participate in voting and politics since not only the people watching the news or reading articles are informed. It’s about everyone nowadays.
Another effective way social media is used during conventions is making political polls. In the reading, How Social Media Affects Politics it describes how polls are effective and bias. The reading states, “Not only do social media sites report the results of polls, but you can also actually participate in Facebook polls. Polls results have a big influence on elections… A poll can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if people think one candidate is far ahead in the race, they might conclude there’s no point in voting for the underdog. When people are posting the latest poll results on social media throughout the day, there’s a great deal of pressure on candidates to pull ahead of their opponents.” This clearly describes how polls affect the public and the candidate. Although polls can be a bias that definitely changes the ideas of others because when they are biased and mostly one-sided, these polls still force a participant to make a choice regardless.
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CONCLUSION:
I NEED HELP WRITING A CONCLUSION. Why? because I don’t want to be repetitive and I don’t know what can be the last piece of information I can use to really inform the audience/reader.
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References
Adrian, R., Christian, C., Julia, M., Julian, S., Marko, K. (2017, October- December). Brute force effects of mass media presence and social media activity on the electoral outcome. Zurich Institute of Public Affairs Research Zurich, Switzerland. Retrieved from. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=b6ad6ca6-24ed-47cc-a711-98212117e4f2%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=127161575&db=aci
Curry, K. (2016, September 30). More and more people get their news via social media. Is that good or bad?. The Washington Post. Retrieved from.
Daniel, K., Shannon, M. (2018, April 3). Technology Firms Shape Political Communication: The Work of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Google With Campaigns During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Cycle. Taylor and France. Retrieved from. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=d49c293b-46a5-4872-b2ce-dd6ec9683d46%40pdc-v-sessmgr05&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=128502484&db=ufh
Hyun, K., & Kim, J. (2015). Differential and interactive influences on political participation by different types of news activities and political conversation through social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 328-334. Retrieved from. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S0747563214007481#tblfn2
Leticia, B. (2016, January 2). Political News in the News Feed: Learning Politics from Social Media. Laurence Elbaum Associates. Retrieved from. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=665be198-41f2-4e5a-a382-9bea76478f66%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=112042616&db=sih
Nagler, J., Tucker, J., Vaccari, C., Zilinsky, J. (2019, October 28). Think celebrities get punished for being political? In fact, they get retweeted. The Washington Post. Retrieved from. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/28/think-celebrities-get-punished-being-political-fact-they-get-retweeted/
Satterfield, H. (2016, October 5). How Social Media Affects Politics. Sysomos. Retrieved from.
https://sysomos.com/2016/10/05/social-media-affects-politics/
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