I
spoke before about how Social Media can cause us to disconnect from
face-to-face socialization and how it can cause widespread protests.
Social media can play a good hand in most aspects of society and that
especially of politics. Think throughout the years about how much of a role
social media plays in elections and see just what I mean.
Facebook played a huge role for the 2008 elections and
especially for me with that being my first time voting in the elections. During
that campaign I had the honor of being in Times Square to see a multitude of
celebrities in the “Barack The Vote” shirts and their signs and such. Sure this
is not social media but those shirts played a big role on Facebook and the
dying days of Myspace.
You could not avoid the constant status updates that read “Barack
The Vote” or sometimes the ever so ignorant, “My President is Black and my
Lambo is blue” based off of a song by Young Jeezy at that time. If any
candidate wanted a good lead they would need to target my age group and of
course elders the only two groups that vote at large.
Social media allowed many people to come up with catchy
sayings and spread it fast such like Obama’s HOPE picture that eventually
started a new trend with my peers. Obama became relatable and soon well
identified by my peers especially when he spoke amongst college students. Soon
as one word about changing the interest rates of student loans leaked out it
soon spread fast throughout all social mediums making its way to us who wish
nothing more but to be rid of student loans for the future.
Now in current elections, we find ourselves much more
involved in politics. I steadily follow the Republican Primaries trying to see
if we do have a good opponent to go up against Obama himself. I have seen some
of my peers talk about voting republic now (even those who were strong
democrats in the 2008 elections). With twitter we can get access to information
from all sides faster than we could facebook with just a click of a retweet
button.
In the next election, I’m sure social media will have a
larger role and play in our politics. I’m pretty sure larger scale of propaganda
will find its way on twitter. Let’s see how the 2016 elections make that all
happen.
I agree that social media helps us express our political voices. On Facebook, we're even asked out political affiliation in the About Me/Info section.
ReplyDeletePoliticians talk about pushing us through college faster. I laugh. My college education this semester is a waste of money aside from the fact that I am one semester closer to graduate with a degree that employers want to see. My capstone class teaches me nothing. I want a president who will make the education system focus on teaching students and not taking their money.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has definitely allowed for a greater expression of not only our political views, but our worldly views as well. The education system is in a declining state as the school system is more focused on ways to make more money rather than improving the value of the education.
ReplyDeleteInformation does spread like wildfire because of social media. I am also interested to see what role social media will play in upcoming elections.
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ReplyDeleteYou bring an important aspect about socialization and the way how world is running today. I think that one of the effective strategies used by President Obama was the social media. The President interacted directly with many social users online; this tool helped him to express his ideas and political interest. I see now, in many countries where the candidates are using the social media to address many ideas with the electorate. New technologies have many alternatives to increase the socialization and media communication around the world.
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