Tuesday, October 25, 2016
The Political Environment on Social Media
There has been a particularly large amount of social media activity surrounding this election season. Some users of social media have found this amount of activity helpful in facilitating political activism and engagement, while others are "worn out" from this unpleasant and unproductive saturation. Also, some view the tone and manner in which this activity is conducted to be harmful. This type of activity is most prevalent on Facebook and Twitter. Users have taken steps to ignore and block what they view as "angry and disrespectful" political discussions. This frustration occurs across the entirety of the political spectrum. What role do you think social media has in the political process? Do you personally see more political activity on social media from one side of the political spectrum? Do you enjoy the amount of political discussion on your feed, or are you frustrated with it?
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I think social media, especially in this election, has had a huge role in the political process. I follow Clinton and Sanders on Twitter, I see Trump's sponsored ads, and the little lightning bolt where you can view news always has at least one of two political articles under it. Twitter has served as a great source for the Clinton campaign to call upon Donals Trump's past views, and even some of his present scandals (the early morning Miss America tweets, etc.). Additionally, snapchat has special filters that come out on debate nights; Trump has taken special advantage of this, as some of them have been sponsored by his campaign. On youtube, as we saw in class today, political ads are often played before videos that may or may not be related. I think all this has given both campaigns an advantage, especially in mobilizing young voters, or at least reaching more of the public. What are we staring at most often? Our phones. Our devices. Just the other day, my mother told me that she gets her news from Facebook. And while this isn't a good thing, it does prove that social media is responsible for a fair amount of the general public's political knowledge.
ReplyDeleteIn all this, I am only really bothered when discussions turn violent. As we saw in the article, majority of online political discussions do just that. Other times, they turn passive aggressive; I've seen a handfull of my peers tweet things along of the lines of "don't get mad at me for making my choice blah blah blah".
All in all, I think social media platforms are very useful for reaching large amounts of people, but I hate that people get even more aggressive than they might in real life just because they have a screen as a barrier.
I think social media is the key to this election. Both parties are hugely involved on Twitter, Instagram ads, Facebook campaign videos, etc. directly, I think Trump is more involved on social media than Clinton but as a whole party, I think they're both equally involved and intense. Every social media app I go on there's an add or a debate about some topic involving the election. It's insane how important social media is to this election, I mean that is where I've gotten most of my information considering I (and most people my age) don't really have time or the patience to sit and watch the news every night for updates.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think social media has had a devastating effect on this election. Most of the political activity I have seen has been negative, with the majority of the content from Trump supporters. If you go to the comment section of Youtube or look at comments on one of Trump's posts, you would be shocked by just how terrible some of the statements are. I have seen images of really radical Tumblr blogs, but I'm not sure how numerous these are because I don't frequent the site. Luckily, I've managed to avoid most of the vitriol because I don't use social media that much.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that social media has become so toxic in this election because I think it can be used positively for encouraging political activity and discussion. It can be effective in getting people to vote and recruiting supporters. The Sanders campaign had much success getting people to join their movement through social media, although there were some incidents of Sanders supporters acting poorly online as well.
Unlike the average teenager, I go actually go out of my way to view more political activity by following my favorite news outlets on twitter and major movement (BLM) leaders on twitter. I also almost exclusively follow liberal/moderate outlets, so all the news I read has the potential of being a little bias. I find politics interesting and important, but from what I can tell, not all teens are like me in that aspect. Often after a debate I will see people on Twitter saying things like “You can’t even vote. Stop talking about politics,” or something along those lines. To me those tweets are really upsetting; even if a person cannot vote, they still show feel welcomed and encouraged to be involved in the political scene.
ReplyDeleteWhat I’m trying to get at is that some people really do not like politics on their social media, while others (like me) do. Social media has been a fantastic outlet and method of sharing political information quickly this election cycle. Although this may seem great, there are some cons too. News sites, especially on Twitter, need to make sure their headlines are short and eye catching, often resulting in misleading and sensationalized titles. In many cases, people only read the headlines of titles, which can misinform them about topics. It’s great to be getting information about current events and politics quickly, but if you’re only reading the titles, and those are partially false, that can lead to bad situations.
As someone whose family members have decided to be embarrassingly political on this election season, I cannot wait until everyone stops talking about politics on social media. I honestly would rather not know who people I am friends with on Facebook support this fall. In no situation will I benefit from reading something that I already disagree with unless it is from a new, courteous, and insightful perspective, which it rarely is. I refuse to use Facebook or Twitter for anything other than school because I would rather not read Twitter fights nor angry Facebook comments. I don't care who you support, just as long as you share your opinions in a respectful way. The problem I have with people displaying their "political opinions" on social media is that this isn't what they're doing. Instead, people have taken to targeting and bashing others for what they believe in and causing fights which is absolutely ridiculous and wrong. People like me are fed up with this election and want it to be over so that this dramatic, vicious, war over candidates can stop.
ReplyDeleteIn this election, social media has played a tremendous role in this election, but I believe most of us are completely desensitized at this point. Personally, I stopped watching TV since I saw an advertisement depicting Donald Trump as a derailing train. I still read from a variety of news sources about the elections to keep up with the race and have the ability to discuss it with people, but I've grown old and tired reading article after article and seeing advertisement after advertisement. I've stopped using Twitter because of politics. What I used to view as a forum for funny quips, pictures, and videos, has turned into a black hole of horrendous memes and a series of debates lacking in facts, reasoning, and structure. I can't wait until this is all over.
ReplyDeleteSocial media played a huge role throughout this election. Most days you could go on Twitter and find a number of recent Donald Trump tweets, varying on really anything and anyone. It not only gives candidates an outlet, but everyone with an opinion. While at first it was interesting, it has become monotonous over the past election year. It is the same things over and over again, and after a while it becomes easier to just ignore it.
ReplyDeleteI think there should be a balance of politics on social media. A little is ok, but there is a lot more than a little right now. For example, Reddit (which is a news source as well as entertainment platform and usually considered social media) is flooded with Donald Trump supporters. Most of the top posts in the past hour are aggressive Donald Trump posts that just get in the way of viewing real news and entertaining stuff. Also, social media can be controlled by practically anyone, so I don't like reading "news stories" that are most likely fake and exaggerated because of uneducated posters.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anurag. Politics should definitely be on social media as spreading the importance about voting is very critical. However, politic posts are usually only posted by people at both extremes. For example, I have a friend on Facebook who was a super Bernie supporter and would share every news article that painted him in a positive light. His posts got really annoying after a while and I had to block him/her from showing up on my feed. If there was a balance between politics from all different candidates, I would be more okay with it, but once again, it depends on the posters.
DeleteI see social media as quick information about campaigns. Both Trump and Hillary have made cracks at each other on social media as well as making plays for their own campaigns. I believe it has just become an integral part of campaigning as it is such a large part of our lifestyles (except my brother's). If the candidates want to keep up with the public, they must go to social media as well as the public. As for the public comments and fights, I'm in the majority that tries to ignore it. I feel people gain a certain confidence behind a screen that they don't have in person. Behind a screen, people are much more likely to be rude or arrogant than they are in person, and I therefore feel that political discussions over the Internet tend to turn south rather quickly (as the article stated). While I don't like this, I don't see it changing any time soon, as do many people do use social media and feel it can be a good outlet for their thoughts and feelings, which can be political at times.
ReplyDeleteI think that social media has had a profound effect upon this election. While I don't think that social media has been a reliable source of truthful or meaningful information to voters, it certainly has become a powerful platform to pick out specific bits of information about each candidate and relay it extremely effectively. So while social media may be motivating voters to get out and support their candidate more vigorously and potentially vote, I don't believe that the voters are any better off using social media as a source of information on its own. Personally, I have to agree with Abby on the presence of social media in this election, in that I would rather not have any form of politics present unless it was presented in a reasonable manner, and if other people responded as such. However, it seems like a vast group of media users are more content to scream out their thoughts and make the scene a cesspool of hate and meaningless distraction. I mean, when I barely use things like Twitter and Facebook and I still see numerous people's blatant hatred or misinformation, I am just frustrated and angered to the point where I don't even bother to use the app anymore, even if I wasn't looking for politics in the first place. In short, while I think that social media and our usage of the internet has had a profound impact on this election cycle, I don't agree with the influence that these bases have on the voter base and wish that they would be less politically inclined as a whole.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has greatly impacted the twists and turns that the campaign has taken this year. Twitter has proven to be an interesting component. It is an extra space for Trump to vomit up his new obnoxious remark that he's been working on, circling back around to be used against him or to gain more support. This method of communication os obviously the quickest way to connect with and involve younger voters so each candidate has done themselves a favor by building their online presence. Having no social media, I have enjoyed evading the growing toxicity of both candidates' supporters online. The little exposure I do have seems to suggest that Democrats are using the medium more frequently.
ReplyDeletePersonally, this stresses me more than excites me. Social media has a great impact on the minds of voters, as well as it does on any major event. The, excuse my term, "sheeple" of America are easily prone to listening to whatever pops up onto their feed, logical or not. I could probably make a completely false text post about Bernie Sanders donating millions to a college, or Trump saying some derogatory comment, and I would end up getting many likes before someone, if anyone at all, decides to fact check. My feed is exceedingly liberal, and I'm doubtful that many people realize how much information put out onto the web is false. I myself have fallen prey to it as well on occasion, including believing a photoshopped Trump tweet or two.
ReplyDeleteIn short, social media is a facilitator to confirming the mroe extreme emotions we feel, and is an excellent source of false information. However, as I mentioned earlier, polaritizing the parties, making this less of a "political race" and more of a "red team v blue team" will increase voter participation. In the way that any of us want? Not really.
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ReplyDeleteI think that social media plays a crucial role in politics. Social Media excites and captures the attention of young voters and can be used positively to increase voter turnout and inform people of the issues. However, if people use it too often and in an angry way, such as the data presented in the article suggests, it can be counterproductive. It turns voters off from the process and makes them resent politics. i would say that pre-Trump being elected, there was more from conservatives that I saw on social media (besides twitter- Twitter seems to be a clear favorite for liberal voters to post on), and post-Trump the liberals began a firestorm of posts - myself included. Personally, I enjoy when I see well-informed posts on my feed and have a chance to interact with those types of posts; however, when misinformation and anger are predominately in the posts, I get frustrated and fed up with seeing them.
ReplyDeleteThe affect of social media in politics can be misleading. It's undeniably influential, but many use it as a soapbox, hoping to spread their views and messages to those with opposing viewpoints. Unfortunately, this doesn't often have the intended effect. Many sites like Facebook tailor their news feeds so users only see information relevant to them, in the hopes of getting more use and ad revenue per client. As a result, it becomes a massive echo chamber; not once have I seen someone on a traditional social media outlet like this start a political debate that resulted in an opposing party completely changing their views (though this is only in my experience). Regarding political activity, what I see is overwhelmingly liberal. This election season it's been hard to go more than a few days without someone condemning the words of Trump, especially with the recent debates and sexual assault scandal. It's a positive thing that his egregious statements and aspects have been spoken against to such a degree online, but I worry that the same negativity many send towards his supporters (albeit his more moderate one) is counterproductive. Without engaging in debate with those of opposing views, no one's opinions will change, and the amount of vile and accusatory interaction I see online from both sides of the political spectrum seems to only create a greater divide.
ReplyDeleteBecause of my incredible foresight and prophetic ability, I know that in the future Paige will post a blog about Trump's twitter use, so I will address that specifically when the time comes. As for everything else, I think social media and politics go hand in hand. People, rightly so, are interested in politics and the direction that our county is headed, and it very understandable that people post political related things. That being said I definitely don't like the amount of politics "in my feed." Most of the time its just repetitive posts that are beating a dead horse. All in all social media is a powerful tool, and I hope that people start actually researching things rather than accepting the random political posts that Joe Schmo popped onto the internet as God given truths.
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