The social media platform has been growing exponentially since the last presidential election. Popular social media companies almost doubled in users and activity. This year's candidates for the Presidency are using this platform as an effective advertising outlet, saving their campaigns upwards of $100 million. Seeing as social media is easily accessible and used by millions of voters, candidates can send instant updates and advertisements, knowing that it can be widely viewed and shared. Candidates are taking advantage of this tool to reach out to various demographics of voters across the nation directly. The millennial generation, who will have a very important role in this year's election, are very involved in social media, and are an important demographic to reach out to. In recent polls, "44 percent of American adults have said they learned something new in the past week from social media."
Social media has turned into a popular news source, replacing many traditional news outlets. Though it is a good source of information by candidates themselves, it can also serve as a platform to spread false information, or immature content around the election. Americans have spent a collective amount of over "1,284 years reading about Donald Trump on social media". It is likely that a good portion of the information is inaccurate or construed to be comical or support his opponent. Trump's overwhelming presence on social media, though not always positive, has earned him the attention of Americans across the country. Though his opponent, Hillary Clinton, uses social media to reflect her campaign and ideals, she has received far less of a reaction from voters. In fact, in this election people have paid more attention to Donald Trump on social media than Clinton and Sanders combined.
I choose this article because we have been focusing on how media impacts campaigns, and for the first time, candidates are taking media into their own hands and outdoing traditional news sources. Social media is likely to become the future of all campaigning so, it is important to learn about the impact it is having on the election currently.
Questions to consider:
- Do you think the power of social media is strong enough to differ voters away from broadcasted media indefinitely, in the future?
- Is social media more effective than standard advertisements? Is it targeted to too specific of a demographic?
- Does social media further risk statements and polls being construed? Is social media more or less trustworthy than a typical news source, such as television news, talk shows on the radio, and internet sources. Why or why not?
- Do you think social media will be the sole source of advertising in the future?
- Is all exposure good exposure? Does Trump's overwhelming presence on social media help or hinder his campaign? Is Clinton's more subtle approach more effective?
To be honest I think social media is a more sincere and honest form of media as it often lacks propaganda considering that people truthfully express their views and opinions. A lot of the broadcasted media is cynically realistic as it only promotes the information that is beneficial to seeing a "free" and "uncorrupt" America.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that social media can be less propaganda filled, I feel like it also can be must less trustworthy. Many people believe the first thing they hear and because of this, there are many posts that have major flaws in the facts and thus cannot be trusted. Because of this, I believe News Broadcasters are still superior.
DeleteI am quite apprehensive about the use of social media as a platform for campaigns. Several issues arise because there is essentially nothing preventing people from spewing out inaccurate messages. Social media allows people to say whatever they want and present themselves however they want, which is problematic when the public is so uninformed. I do think social media is strong enough to differ voters away from broadcasted media because it is easier to access. Because Trump engages in "Twitter fights" such as the one with former beauty queen Alicia Machado, his tweets tend tend to seem immature and easily misconstrued.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe the relying soling on social media is a feasible source for advertising. While social media is used by many, I do not think that social media alone is the way to advertise. I believe there needs to be a combination of advertising techniques, allowing the company to cater to many different audiences. Social media is most common in the younger generations, where as television or magazine commercials may be more effective for older generations
ReplyDeleteSocial media can be more effective or less effective as a medium of advertisement based on the demographic that is being targeted. For example, the older generations still rely heavily on information that they receive from television news. Many people in these older generations don't have social media accounts and therefore do not have access to the information it can provide. There is also a level of distrust amongst the older generations with regards to information coming from the internet, This may inhibit them from internalizing or believing the information they receive from social media. On the other hand, a large number of people in the younger generations use social media. They tend to be more accepting of information they receive from the internet and are more easily impressionable. This demographic is coveted by advertisers because it can no longer be effectively reached by conventional advertising techniques. Advertising to a youth demographic with the use of social media can be very effective. The effectiveness of social media as an advertising medium depends on who the advertising is being aimed at.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is basically a way for individuals to hear information they want to hear. Different platforms have different political leanings, which greatly polarizes the different ways people consume information. For example, younger people tend to have a more liberal leaning because they consume information from newer forms of media such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Tumblr. These sites tend to appeal to narrow demographics. As a result, individuals tend to become more strongly opinionated as they face little opposition with their opinions on these platforms. Social media can also contribute to the shock that accompanied the results of last week's election.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media helped Trump's campaign. It was good exposure for him. Trump knew how to appeal to the public. He would use personal attacks on Clinton which were effective. Social media is a good tool for campaigning because it is free as opposed to TV ads. Social Media could become the main source of advertising in the future as cable could die out from online streaming services like Netflix and HBO. Social Media is so easy to use, you can try to target multiple demographics with different kinds of tweets/posts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. For Trump, all exposure was "good exposure", and because we were so frequently exposed to his harmful rhetoric, viewers started to become immunised to his outrageous comments. This, I believe, is one of the biggest reasons why Trump was held to a much lower standard than Clinton; when expectations for him were so much lower than they were for Clinton, he could get away with a lot more.
DeleteI think that social media and also its similar form of political advertisement- satire- is good in moderation but not in excess. And I think that this election has experienced excess. Social media gives people only a snapshot of the larger picture. Many memes and other sort of posts give absolute, simplistic impressions- "Hilary is a criminal," or "Anyone who votes for Trump is a racist." People need to have a broader, more sophisticated understanding of issues to make an informed decision, something that is rarely provided for by social media.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is very powerful in manipulating uninformed voters. Young, uninformed voters get a majority of their news from social media and/or apps such as Snapchat. The problem here is that people tend to fall for click-bait titles and end up reading biased and or completely false news articles from controversial sources; they share it on their feeds leading to a epidemic of fake news being spread around. Facebook is currently under fire for having "fake" news sites being exposed to its users, leading many to wonder if the website unintentionally swayed voters during the election.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that social media is slowly turning people away from watching and listening to broadcasted news sources. Many times, people only get their political information from social media, which is very biased and leads to people being misinformed. Instead of broadcasted news, more people are paying attention to narrowcasted news and social media. As we've seen with the altered news about Hillary Clinton, social media and biased news sources can have a great impact on the future of our country. As for Trump's presence on social media, I believe that he has been using his twitter especially to spread news and opinion that are either untrue or very insensitive.
ReplyDeleteSocial media was one of the main factors that contributed to Trump's win. He knew how to effectively use it to draw in more support and attack Clinton in a way that instilled a feeling of anxiety and distrust among many of the swing voters who possibly just voted against Clinton and voted for Trump instead.
ReplyDeleteSome would even go as far as to say that Trump's twitter account was his greatest asset in this election. He defended himself and made accusations on it and he has a massive social media following that is fiercely loyal to him. Some think that Clinton has tried to appeal to younger voters by turning to social media and trying to act "hip" but it seems like Trump has already won this battle.
DeleteI don't think that social media is a great place for advertising. While it reaches a certain younger demographic, it shouldn't be the only thing that is used. I don't think that social media is less trustworthy than other news sources because there are definitely TV stations that are biased. I think there needs to be a balance between social media and other news sources. I received a lot of my information about the election from news stations and Rachel Maddow while also keeping up with the NY times. I think that in order to reach every voter these are the steps that need to be taken.
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