The Political Power of Social Media: Driving change and growth in 2015
While social media may have many faces, it is not commonly known as an example of political weaponry. Although it has evolved from a social networking resource into a core business tool, it has yet to be universally globally accepted as a medium through which politicians can engaged voters.
This is not to say that there have not been isolated instances where the social media has been used to effect political change. This emerged in the wake of Spanish demonstrations in 2004, when a text message campaign was initiated to organise rebels and successfully oust Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
We have subsequently seen coordinated demonstrations and rebellions in regions such as Egypt and the Middle East, each of which have been promoted and organised through social media.
The Use of Social Media by Politicians
As we can see, social media has been largely utilised as a tool to protest against political establishments. In contrast, political leaders themselves seem loathe interact with the electorate through the medium, and this may have been influenced by a number of unfortunate faux pas down the years. You need only see the backlash caused by Barack Obama’s impromptu ‘selfie’ with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, which was deemed hugely inappropriate as the occasion was Nelson Mandela’s funeral.
Such an attitude not only flies in the face of change and progression, however, but it also denies politicians a unique opportunity to capitalise on increased engagement. This is particularly true in the UK, where the recent general election saw in excess of 30 million votes cast nationwide and the highest turnout since Labour’s landslide win in 1997. This underlines the level of interest and engagement that exists among modern-day voters, and suggests that politicians could benefit from this if they were more in touch with social media platforms and channels.
The Bottom Line and why social Media is delivering a cycle of change
This underlines the open-ended nature of social media, which is also driving engagement by connecting the electorate to prominent political issues in real-time. Alongside the rise of new media and enhanced mobile capabilities, today’s generation of voters are more connected to the political world around them than at any time. This explains increased engagement, and also drives a more substantial level of emotional empathy among national citizens.
It is only a matter of time before political parties decide to utilise this medium to its full potential, initiating emotive, real-time conversations with voters and even hosting informative debates online. We already began to see this at points during the last British election, and we can expect methods and philosophies to have changed completed by the year 2020. The upcoming American election may be impacted by this evolution, as social media gradually become the most influential engagement tool.
Once this is the case, social media will no longer be a one-way medium reserved for disgruntled voters and organised political protesters.
Image: — Pixabay
