IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN POLITICS

 

POLITICS & CIVIC CULTURES

According to Dr. Dennis Muller, anyone with an internet connection and the skill to use it can become a publisher - platforms such as: print, television and radio are no longer exclusive to merely the established media (Trounson, 2022)

 

Pew Research Centre, a “nonpartisan fact tank”, published a survey in May 2019 covering data collated from the publics of 11 countries covering the positive and negative impact of social media in politics.

 

The 11- country median is as follows:

44% say that the increased use of internet and social media has had a positive impact on politics. While 28% believe that the impact has been negative (Smith et al. 2022).

 

 

According to this survey, the public have “dual views” about the impact of social media and the internet on politics - publics are increasingly informed yet as gullible; inclusive yet just as divided (Smith et al. 2022).

Let’s delve right in and explore some expert perspectives shall we..

THE POSITIVE 

Unlike traditional media, and its controllability from judiciary, Dr Dennis Muller believes that social media, due to the lack of its restrictions and limitations can be viewed as a great power to the public. However, it’s how citizens utilise this freedom is what may be challenging (Trounson, 2022). He further explains that the public have the power to call out propaganda, fabrications, and errors in the mainstream media, ultimately, scrutinizing journalists and publishers (Trounson, 2022).

 

 

Social media also provides a platform for previously marginalised groups and low entry barriers. Low entry barriers catalyse the spread of political information by also providing a platform for whistle-blowers and the other opposers, hence making it further difficult to hide harmful information (Zhuravskaya et al. 2022).

THE NEGATIVE

On the contrary, Dr Aaron Martin, a professor in political sciences, advises citizens that rely on social media for news, that the platform may possibly be a large echo chamber -where preconceptions and prejudgements are being reinforced (Trounson, 2022). 

An echo chamber is the activity of continuously absorbing the same information, it be opinions or perspectives repeatedly (Chinelli et al. 2022).This is mainly due to the exposure publics have - not only can citizens just skip through content, but they are also now able to simply unfollow, block, or even dislike content (Bode, et al. 2017)

 

This further reiterate, Dr Martins perspective, who believes that the old media model wasn’t perfect, however, it allowed the audience to have exposure to a broad range of information and news (Trounson, 2022).

 

 

REFERENCES

 

Cinelli, M, De Francisci Morales, G, Galeazzi, A, Quattrociocchi, W & Starnini, M 2022, viewed 20 April, 2022, <https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2023301118>.

 

Zhuravskaya, E, Petrova, M & Enikolopov, R 2022, Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media, viewed 22 April, 2022, <https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-economics-081919-050239>.

 

Trounson, A 2022, Social media politics: for and against : Election Watch - Australia 2016, viewed 24 April, 2022, <https://electionwatch.unimelb.edu.au/australia-2016/articles/social-media-politics-for-and-against>.

 

Smith, A, Silver, L, Johnson, C & Jiang, J 2022, 3. Publics think technology impacts the political environment in both positive and negative ways, viewed 24 April, 2022, <https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/05/13/publics-think-technology-impacts-the-political-environment-in-both-positive-and-negative-ways/>.

 

 

Diermeier, D., 2011. Reputation rules: Strategies for building your company’s most valuable asset. McGraw Hill Professional.

 

Bode, L, Vraga, E & Troller-Renfree, S 2017, "Skipping politics: Measuring avoidance of political content in social media", Research &amp; Politics, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 205316801770299.