In Conclusion, How does Social Media affect Political Elections?
Introduction
As we have seen over the last posts, social media is basically communication, and community-based medium. One can argue that amongst the different types of social media microblogging, social networking, social curation, and wikis can also be included as they are shared social spaces but the most popular ones being applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and the most recent one TikTok.
As we also have seen, by research that was conducted by Clement (2020) as of 2019 the average daily use of social media per user amounted to nearly 2 hours and a half with the dominant platform being Facebook which is that of 58 minutes per day (Wendy, 2020).
With the use of social media, one can argue that a certain amount of power is given to that individual using it. This was explained by DSM (2020) who said that social media platforms are a tool that companies and influencers use to show authenticity as well as transparency. This can be seen in the review system on Facebook pages where it assists people with evaluating the credibility of a company. Again proving the fact that social media contains power, Mehta (2020) explained that social media is becoming the platform to use to help build capital, brand and name by connecting with the public through digital platforms and applying that power to leverage individual standing is critical.
As we went deeper into figuring out how social media ties up with politics and elections, we found out that there is something called the Social Movement Theory. As Killian (2020) explained, this theory is a loosely formed but sustained campaign in support of a social goal, typically either the fulfilment or the prevention of a certain change in society’s structure or values.
Social media also plays an important role in this theory as nowadays social media is the media in general and has a fast-mobilising effect. There is nothing like the ability of social media to carry the message in a broadway. It is way harder to do when people are more remote from one another (OSU, 2020).
One can also argue that as social media has the ability to carry out a message, it also has the ability to provide people with the news. Pentina et.al (2013) argued that current news and its consecutive transformation into public knowledge is sustained by the information overload coping strategies that increasingly employ new technology and new media capabilities.
Although social media has this ability, Jackson (2020) explained that when it comes to social media, foreign influence and disinformation is still a threat thus being an “unreliable” tool to help manipulate the masses in an election, it can also be a tool for grassroots to mobilise against those in power.
Facts when it comes to the role of social media in Election Cycles
Seeing all that is happening with social media from just a simple tool to news consumption to giving the power to politicians, one starts asking himself what exactly is the role of social media in presidential election cycles?
To answer this, Fujiwara et.al (2020) examined how Twitter affected the 2016 US presidential election. They came to a conclusion that as Twitter (and any other social media platform) users are most likely to be young, more educated, live in urban areas, and support the Democratic party, the pro-Democrat slant did not reveal itself in a pronounced fashion before the 2016 US presidential election because the Republican candidates were relatively moderate. However, in 2016 as Twitter became a vehicle for spreading criticism of Trump, the sheer volume of this slanted content persuaded voters with weaker priors to vote against Trump in the presidential election (Fujiwara et.al, 2020).
Fujiwara et.al (2020) also explains that their research and findings cannot speak to the effect of particular types of social media content on Twitter, such as the potential role of foreign governments or misinformation (fake news). Nevertheless, the results suggest that social media can, indeed, affect election outcomes.
Can social media determine the outcome of an election?
As we have seen, YES social media can affect election outcomes be it with influencers, a social movement, foreign governments or misinformation. But can social media determine the outcome of an election?
Suciu (2020) argues that in the 2020 US election while Trump has had 87 million followers on Twitter to Vice President Biden’s 11 million followers, both candidates saw a massive increase in engagement during the election cycle. Also, the Socialbakers data found that Biden’s three highest performing tweets have nearly double the number of interactions compared to Trump’s respective tweets, despite Biden’s drastically lower follower count showing that the irrelevance of follower count on a stage this large (Suciu, 2020). Thus giving the power to candidates to connect with those crucial undecided voters.
The following is a short video by CBS News explaining How does social media change the elections.
References:
CBS News. (2016). We the Voters: How does social media change the election? [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjJfUfE4Xc; YouTube.
Clement, 2020. Daily Social Media Usage Worldwide | Statista. Statista. Retrieved 23 December 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/
DSM, 2020. What Is The Power Of Social Media? | DSM | Digital School Of Marketing. [online] DSM | Digital School of Marketing. Retrieved 26 December 2020, from https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/blog/what-is-the-power-of-social-media/
Fujiwara, T., Müller, K., & Schwarz, C. (2020). How Twitter affected the 2016 presidential election | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal. Voxeu.org. Retrieved 4 January 2021, from https://voxeu.org/article/how-twitter-affected-2016-presidential-election
Jackson, R. (2020). Will social media’s impact on the elections be different this time?. Big Think. Retrieved 2 January 2021, from https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/social-media-2020-us-election?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
Killian, 2020. Social Movement | Definition, Types, Theories, & Facts. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 December 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-movement
Mehta, 2020. Social Media: Influence, Opportunities And Power | Quantumrun. [online] Quantumrun.com.
OSU, 2020. Political Movements And Election Day Consequences. Ohio State Insights. Retrieved 26 December 2020, from https://insights.osu.edu/politics/social-movements-voting
Pentina, I., Tarafdar, M. and Covault, A., 2013. Exploring The Role Of Social Media In News Consumption. Lancaster University.
Retrieved 26 December 2020, from https://www.quantumrun.com/article/social-media-influence-opportunities-and-power
Suciu, P. (2020). Social Media Could Determine The Outcome Of The 2020 Election. Forbes. Retrieved 4 January 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/10/26/social-media-could-determine-the-outcome-of-the-2020-election/?sh=7d244b0a26f6
Wendy, 2020. How Much Time Do People Spend On Social Media (11 Insights) | Blog | Whatagraph. Whatagraph.com. Retrieved 23 December 2020, from https://whatagraph.com/blog/articles/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-media
