Social media platforms have played a significant role in changing the political game, by allowing newcomers and incumbents alike to communicate directly with the public on matters related to opponent parties’ policies vs. their own. Almost every political leader has taken up social media platforms, predominantly Twitter and Instagram, to express and put themselves forward without any filters by conventional media.
Current age political aspirants and leaders drive their extended support from social media platforms, which is less expensive than the mainstream media and can be easily tapped by anyone with just a smartphone and internet connection. Based on the elections taking place worldwide, it is proven that social media platforms can help in playing field politics, where access to formal communication channels and money poses a massive barrier for newcomers. Political parties increase their following on social media such as Facebook followers, Instagram followers, twitter followers and so on.
Nowadays, political campaigns do not revolve around posters and banners. Social media campaigns are given more priority as they are full of advertisements, infomercials, blog posts, lakes of tweets on Twitter, along with Facebook and Instagram posts. Political parties can now convey their objective and messages with endless infomercials and gauge their communication by measuring the direct response received to their actions on various social media platforms.
There are many fake news, hoaxes, and stories created on these platforms to deliberately spread disinformation or misinform the public and deceive them. Usually, this false news and stories are created to influence the publics’ point of view, promote a political agenda, or create confusion and manipulate voters against a particular political party or leader. What would likely happen to our government, communities, or business saves if we cannot trust what we see, read, or hear?
The 2018 presentation by Facebook admitted that “Facebook algorithm does exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.”
The importance of social media platforms in the 2020 presidential race cannot be ignored. According to the Socialbakers, around 72% of the voting age US citizens are actively using social media platforms, about which 69% of Americans of the same age group are using Facebook alone. Social media marketing platforms have found out that President Donald Trump Twitter account has been widely acknowledged and has also tremendously impacted the 2016 elections; Joe Biden, the former vice president, surpassed Donald Trump in many essential engagement metrics.
Moreover, Donald Trump had about 87 million followers on his Twitter account whereas current President Joe Biden only had 11 million followers. Both candidates have experienced a massive and continuous increase in social media engagement during the 2020 election cycle.
During the debate between the two presidential candidates, social media users spend a reasonable amount of time discussing the debate. Hootsuite presented data which show that from 21st October to 23rd October, there were 6 billion + total mentions of Biden and Trump on Twitter and Instagram, out of which 72% mentions were in favor of Biden.
According to study.com experts, social media had a significant role during this election. It is easily reached and collected by the youth vote, which indeed determined the election’s outcome beforehand.
Pros of social media platform during elections:
- Every small information is available on every social media platform.
- Representatives and leaders can directly interact with voters.
- It is effortless to get details on schedules and events of any election agenda.
Cons of social media platform during elections:
- Many political minorities are making use of social media for creating a political gridlock.
- Social media is also a threat multiplier and can easily cause hatred, outrage, suspicion, and violence because of disinformation and misinformation.
- Connecting with local masses and reaching out to does who are not on any social media platform can be quite tricky.
- Many political parties make use of social media to create more noise , fake news and sometimes to encourage polarization.
Conclusion:
Political parties, civil society, election authority, and social media platforms should try and put more effort into how politicians can use free Instagram followers during elections and frame comprehensive guidelines that can benefit both voters and political parties.
