SOCIAL MEDIA: AN EXCITING NEW PLATFORM FOR POLITICAL INFO….BUT

Twitter, the bird of Social Media

 

 

Social Media: we do not yet know what it will mean for American democracy

 

Here are some truths about today’s American millennials

 

“According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January, 35% of respondents between ages 18 and 29 said that social media was the “most helpful” source of information about the presidential campaign. For those aged 30 to 49, social media ranked third, behind cable TV and news websites.”

 

To show you how fast social media has grown, do you realize that per The Post: “This is only the third presidential election since Twitter was launched and since Facebook opened to the public, both in 2006. And it’s only the second election since Instagram and Snapchat joined the social-media fray. Already, these online platforms are essential to modern campaigns.”

 

But we do know that more and more people rely on social media for news and information, and younger voters in particular, increasingly get their news from social media.

 

It is also not surprising that social media is less popular among voters 50 and older.  According to the Pew survey, older Americans still depend primarily on television and other traditional news outlets to learn about elections.

 

But we do know that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign’s main communication tool is Twitter.

 

The good and the bad of all this is, because social media is so young, political science hasn’t figured out the political implications of how citizens use it to get their news. Research has found that consuming news makes people more likely to vote. Now in theory, democracy should benefit from the presence of more information sources.

 

One positive effect that seems to be happening with social media is that exposure to information, even for audiences that are not seeking it, can increase political participation, at least online. 

 

Some research has found that social media can affect political engagement.

 

A study conducted in Germany, Italy and Britain during their 2014 European Parliament elections found that citizens who were less interested in news and politics became more politically engaged after coming across news and political information on social media. That included activities such as emailing a political leader, signing an online petition and encouraging friends to vote.

 

We all know that historically, youth turnout is lower than that of older voters, and that voter turnout increases with age. One thing that helps increase the likelihood of voting is consuming news and political information. Could an increase in access to news via social media boost the turnout of younger voters?  The initial reviews say “yes”, but we seriously don’t yet know for sure.  Despite its growing popularity, social media’s influence on political participation still remains unclear.

 

The one issue that Donald Trump has made clear is that using social media late at night without thinking, can get you into trouble.

 

In this latest episode, because Trump cannot take any criticism, at some time in the early AM, he Tweeted that Hillary Clinton had been set-up by a “con” person in Hillary’s debate comments about how Trump treated the Miss Universe winner when she had gained weight.  Hillary’s comment was an attempt to once again communicate how Trump has treated women over the years.  Of course, Trump also said he had actually saved the Miss Universe’s job because the pageant was threatening to remove the pageant winner’s crown.  But the pageant has since reported that they never considered that as an option.

 

The point here is that Trump is overusing this social media, and in this particular case, it doesn’t look like it’s helping his cause.  This is not the first time Trump has gotten on Twitter in the middle of the night, and as before, it has again backfired on him.

 

This political use of social media was first seriously used in President Obama’s elections.

 

A common narrative from the 2008 presidential election was that the Obama campaign motivated younger voters through social media. Post-election studies, however, have not consistently been able to verify this idea.  Not all young people are open to political information in their Twitter or Facebook feeds. Whether young voters accept political talk on Facebook depends on their views on conflict in general. One study found that those who avoid conflict tend to dislike political posts. Those who say they enjoy conflict, on the other hand, post political content more frequently.

 

This study concluded that young voters are open to political information on social media only when it is presented in a civil manner.  That’s not a good thing for Donald Trump’s approach to social media.

 

If that study is correct, Trump’s Tweets  do not do favors for him with the younger, voting age millennials.

 

Another issue that social media has brought up is that gathering political information via social media is an increased risk of the digesting information from questionable sources.  As an example, Trump is consistently Tweeting information and statements that are not true.

 

These studies have found that as humans, we pick up ideas throughout our lives, but many times we don’t recall from where they originated.   In the past, a bit of information ideas may have been read it in a reputable newspaper like the New York Times, or the Washington Post.  But then again, was it overheard from someone while at the office watercooler?

 

This means that social media might be making it easier to spread false information and for politicians to manipulate the voters. With social media, we tend to read and quickly digest ideas and views from individuals whom we already consider “friends” or “professionals”.  But because of this, the brain tends to mix this information with that from the news media.

 

How well will citizens remember whether they heard a particular idea from their Uncle Joe or their friends on Facebook, or was it a Washington Post item from Twitter?

 

Donald Trump and the GOP are showing us that we need to be careful as to where we obtain our political information, especially if we are followers of social media.  Remember, as with the Internet, just because it is available on Google or from Twitter or Facebook, does not mean it’s real or correct.

 

Obviously, social media is an exciting new platform for political information, opinion, and even dialogue. But as of today, we do not yet understand what these platforms will mean for our democracy.  This is especially true among the young voters who mostly rely on social media. 

 

And remember, these individuals will eventually become the future leaders of America.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016