How Influencers Use Social Media: Bad or Good?
Almost everyone in this digital age owns a social media account, some may even be addicted. Since the majority of social media platforms are free, people have easy access to voice their opinions through their own personal platforms. Individuals could express themselves through their own posts as well as sharing the posts of others that inspire them, that are relatable and/or informative. But what about individuals who use social media for other purposes on a worldwide scale like presidential elections or popularity? Well, it’s safe to say that social media inherently enables all kinds of people, including demagogues and reconcilers, to thrive if they use social media effectively to target their audience.
Due to social media’s policies and operations, it unfortunately enables demagogues like Trump to thrive. A demagogue is a leader in democracy who gains popularity by exploiting prejudice while whipping up the passions of the crowd and shutting down reasoned deliberation. The underlying roots of the enabling of demagogues on social media can be traced back to individual social media accounts’ policies and regulations. It is without a doubt that Donald Trump is “Twitter famous” as a result of his constant and ridiculous tweets that grab the attention of all kinds of people — supporters and/or haters. However, the majority of Trump’s tweets are extremely harmful which make people wonder: why don’t some of his tweets get deleted by Twitter? By examining Twitter’s media policy it is noted that there are three main areas that are marked as sensitive media such as adult content, graphic violence and hateful imagery. If such content appears in headers, profile pictures or live videos, it is violating media policy. The consequences are as follows: “the first time someone violates this policy they will be required to remove the imagery and may be asked to verify their account ownership. Subsequent violations could result in permanent suspension” (Twitter, 2018). Despite the emphasis on hateful imagery, Twitter does not handle hateful speech adequately like Trump’s posts, thus revealing how his tweets are not deleted. In addition, Twitter is a known platform to not just enable Trump as a demagogue but all demagogues due to the Twitter spokesperson’s response to CNN in regards to Trump’s retweets of anti-Muslim videos:
“To help ensure people have an opportunity to see every side of an issue, there may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability” (Shaban, 2017).
Social media also allows demagogues the opportunity to reach an audience and persuade them through their posts. According to Princeton University history professor Julian Zelizer, demagogue presidential candidates such as Trump “try to appeal to constituencies who feel that they have no other option. They play on the worst feelings of the electorate, economic and racial … or they step into where there is a vacuum where neither party is dealing with it” (Collinson, 2015). It is evident that Trump is using the medium of social media to rally political supporters by manipulating others with fears and prejudices. This can be noted through Trump’s reaction to the terrorist attack on a mosque in Egypt as a reason to support his desire for a wall and a ban.
Furthermore, since social media is a premise for individuals to share their opinions, likes and thoughts, more people have been partaking in the spread of Donald Trump’s brand by either retweeting his tweets because they agree with him or find his tweets funny. However, what people do not realize is although some individuals may be retweeting his tweets for laughs or bringing up his social media as a topic of conversation, they are allowing their outrage to spark more attention to his name, thus causing more people to learn more about his opinions. As a result, some people may agree to his political ambitions further expanding his following.
On the other hand, social media can also be an effective medium for reconcilers if they use it wisely. Oprah, a known reconciler, has used her social media platform to help more liberal and equality movements like minority representation, sexual assault, environmental initiatives and much more. Oprah utilizes her social media accounts in a manner to which she submits to compassion and peace in attempt to bring an equalized harmony throughout the world. For instance, she posts her interviews involved with advocating for the Time’s Up movement, an end of sexual harassment in the workplace and all environments. Furthermore, Oprah uses her Instagram to show support for other celebrities like Andra Day and Common who started #StandUpForSomething to which Oprah stated that she stands for kindness.
Most importantly, reconcilers must have some sort of strategy in order to use social media effectively to market their image. If done properly, reconcilers have a great chance to get their image and messages across. According to Forbes, there are three main techniques for reconcilers to employ in order to make their campaigns more effective. This includes staying engaged while connecting with an intended target market, focussing on quality of meaningful content and building a pyramid of content (Agrawal, 2016). Oprah does an excellent job of this by engaging with her target market through the occasional reply to fans, having quality content on all of her social media platforms and having the majority of her content surrounding on the importance of activism and equality.
In addition to Oprah promoting herself through her own accounts, reconcilers are also supported on social media through other individual posts involving discussions of Oprah’s actions. A bigger fanbase is built when celebrities and individuals are commenting about a reconciler’s message. It would be super easy for social media users to recall the night when Oprah won the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes and gave an inspiring speech that went viral. Seriously though, whose timeline did not mention Oprah that night? In this speech she addressed several issues including minority representation in the media, sexual harassment issues, social justice and civil rights. #Oprah2020! Almost everyone’s timeline was filled with praise for Oprah and some tweets are showcased below:
In order to eliminate the presence of demagogues on social media, social media platforms have to be better designed to eliminate discriminatory and prejudicial posts through their policies pertaining to what users post. Sure it will be hard for these platforms to moderate every user’s posts, but platforms should delete negative posts when they come across them from popular accounts or posts that have been reported. Currently, many posts have been reported by individuals like Trump’s discriminatory tweets per se, but social media has failed to respond to these reports. Moreover, to eliminate bias in social media, educational systems should place an emphasis on teaching the importance of wanting equality and recognizing when content is harmful. Some may argue that deleted tweets from social platforms may be a violation of the freedom of speech, but what happens when unregulated speech on social media increasingly puts the lives of others in jeopardy? Therefore, social media platforms must require restrictions for the protection of all individuals.
#WOKE
References
Agrawal, A. (2016, February 16). 3 Ways to Make Your Social Media Messages More Impactful. Forbes. Retrieved January 27, 2018 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/02/16/3-ways-to-make-you-social-media-messages-more-impactful/#6aaa3c403cbf
Collinson, S. (2015, July 23). Is Donald Trump a demagogue? CNN. Retrieved January 27, 2018 from https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/politics/donald-trump-rick-perry-demagogue/index.html
Shaban, H. (2017, December 1). Twitter defends its decision not to take down Trump’s retweets of anti-Muslim videos. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 31, 2018 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/01/twitter-defends-its-decision-not-to-take-down-trumps-retweets-of-anti-muslim-videos/?utm_term=.f46cb0eaaa6c
Twitter. (2018). Twitter Rules and Policies. Retrieved January 27, 2018 from https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/media-policy
