Week 10

Week 10: Internet and Politics

As the Internet is advancing and evolving, it is allowing other things to advance with it. This week in COM125 we discussed the Internet and Politics. We got into the details of how world politics is changing due to the rising power of the Internet. I am quite interested in Politics, especially American Politics so I thought this would be an interesting topic to learn about.

If we take a look back to the American Elections over the last decade, it is fairly evident that the way that campaigns are executed now has changed drastically. Now that the Internet has increasing power to influence people, politicians have taken notice and used it to their advantage to get ahead. As we know, the amount of people using the internet is increasing, as well as the amount of hours we spend on it. So therefore, it makes absolute sense that the Internet is the place to set campaigns in motion to get the publicity they desire. In my opinion, because politicians have incorporated social media platforms in their campaigns, they are now somewhat celebrities in people’s eyes. For example, lets look at Barrack Obama on social media. 

He’s extremely popular and has many loyal followers and supporters. Moreover, people that are not in the United States support him!

Let’s face it, people don’t read newspapers as much as they used to and everyone now wants the latest news updates straight from their Smartphone. So it makes even more sense to campaign on the Internet to reach out to people. So where is the best place to advertise your campaign? I think its YouTube. Lots of politicians are posting their campaign videos and recordings of their speeches on YouTube and gaining millions of views as a result. Using the Internet is giving the politicians nothing but advantages like cost reduction, efficiency and it allows them to reach a broader demographic.

I think a lot of people can agree with me when I say that most young adults and adults show a lot of apathy when it comes to politics. They feel like it doesn’t concern them and they show no interest. But I feel like now that politics is reforming and infiltrating the Internet, young people are slowly gaining more interest. Politicians need to tailor messages in such a way it will excite a younger demographic. This younger demographic spends a lot of time on the Internet which is perfect. All politicians need to do now is get the message across to these younger adults and engage them. For me, when the time comes for the American Presidential Elections, the Internet is flooded with newspaper headlines about the politicians and all the drama that comes with it. The place where I see it the most is a website called 9GAG. I’m sure a lot of people know about it and go on the website. What I feel is good about it is, although it’s a website mainly for comedy and passing time, it creates awareness. The posts are funny and satirical but when they involve politics, the younger demographic is aware and they become interested. I for one do not read the news daily but I see headlines on 9GAG that make me aware.

Post from 9GAG during the elections

However, social media campaigning does have it disadvantages. Yes, social media is great because its very easy to “spread the word” to get more voters etc. But, if politicians do not trust the more traditional ways of campaigning, social media may not be as successful. At the end of the day, politicians rely heavily on the numbers of voters they have and want to acquire. Most of the time, advertising and campaigning on social media will not add voters or increasing number of supporters. I believe the more traditional forms of campaigning are always better. I feel they are more personalized. On social media, it is just a person hired to publicize a candidate and increase awareness about them. It’s not the candidate him/herself doing it so it doesn’t feel real. 

References:

http://www.filpac.com/advice/social_media.htm

http://blog.thepitagroup.com/2013/getting-political-on-social-media-what-your-elected-officials-are-tweeting/
http://9gag.com/gag/5037908/politics