The Political Power of Social Media

Fake News! Make America Great Again! We often hear these words from our President, Mr. Donald Trump. But not only do we hear them in his speech, we also see these words on his Twitter.

It truly cannot be denied that he loves his Twitter. He tweets about 42 times every week. Some may say that politicians should hold conferences instead of using their Twitter accounts, and according to CNBC, 64% of voters think Trump should scrap his personal Twitter. But what is wrong with the president using his personal Twitter?

First of all, it is clear that we get necessary information much faster when it is directly tweeted from the person who leads this nation. It is also the duty of voters to keep their eyes on public officials and to make sure that they do their job fairly and appropriately. The most important role of politicians is to respond to the needs of voters, but how can we ensure those politicians are fulfilling their responsibilities?

Social media plays a crucial role in allowing us to do so. Just by following politicians on Twitter or Facebook, we gain “unfiltered” insight into their thoughts and everyday actions. Trump’s personal Twitter can be the best tool for us to keep our eyes on his authority and to make sure that he is doing only what he should be.

Many voters say that Trump’s Twitter usage is unhinged and superfluous, but his words actually did cause Toyota and Ford to change their future plans. Whether right or wrong, a few words on Twitter can change how these big companies do their jobs. Regardless of one’s political opinions, this is impressive, and is illustrative of the political influence of social media. The 21st century is an era in which social media can be used as another tool of the political process.

The Arab Spring was a historic event in which countries such as Tunisia and Egypt overthrew their long-lasting dictatorships and introduced democracy. Many scholars on Middle East and North African politics thought that it was almost impossible to overthrow the regimes. This was not an unreasonable assumption, seeing as many citizens did not have power or the right to speak against the regimes and were often suppressed by the government if they even tried. So how were they successful in overthrowing their regimes?

Of course, there were a number of reasons why the Arab Spring was successful, but perhaps the most important was the effective use of social media. Facebook and Twitter made it easy for anyone to organize protests; one can easily create an event page on Facebook, set the time and the location, and invite people to a revolutionary protest against the incumbent regime. With a click of a button, people can share that event page with their friends and invite more and more people to join. Twitter also allows people to broadcast their real opinions, which can be shared even further throughout the social network.

During the Arab Spring, social media was a powerful unifying tool. In Tunisia and Egypt in particular––thanks to the widespread use of social media––people could easily and quickly reach out to their fellow citizens. However, the power of social media has also brought some negative side effects: in Bahrain, for example, the government used Facebook to track down some people who had criticised the regime in order to arrest them.

Whether good or bad, the use of social media affects and changes the politics of today. In future campaigns, such as the French presidential election in April, all of the candidates will have their personal Twitter and will use it to report what they are doing every day to their voters. Whoever follows them can retweet their posts and share them with their friends. The candidates do not have to go to every single region to gain more support; instead, they can rely on Twitter and Facebook to do their job for them.

This new strategy of “social media politics” can change the political process and indeed, can change the world. In the 21st century, if one wants to be successful in any field (especially politics), one need only to become familiar with the power of social media.