Mass Media and American Politics

Mass Media and American Politics

Social media influence is drastically increasing in our lives as social networking sites are becoming part of our daily lives. The utilization of social media is growing in different parts of our lives; more people are embracing it for their communication needs (Liu, 2019). One area in which social media is gaining more use is in the field of politics, especially during electoral campaigns. According to Liu (2019), political campaigns use two strategies that are critical in their communication process. The first strategy is segmenting, which involves dividing the population into different groups based on various variables, such as party affiliation and demographics. Targeting is the next strategy, which focuses the campaign resources and efforts voter segments which are only sought after by the candidate.  Achieving these two critical factors in the election communication process has been made extremely easy with the use of social media (Liu, 2019). The campaign teams are easily able to go online and target the segment of people that they want and send information. The communication applies explicitly to the targeted people, therefore, making social media a very critical instrument in American politics.

Borah (2016) explains that apart from the effect of using politics on social networking sites, it is vital to analyze what effect the content candidates post on social media sites has on elections. Analyzing messages posted by candidates during the 2008 and 2012 elections, the paper concluded that different politicians used different types of messages to communicate with their intended audience (Borah, 2016). Ultimately, the tone of these messages played a massive part in determining the electoral results.

The study conducted by Borah (2019), showed that presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney and John McCain’s electoral campaigns mostly used messages that applied fear and anger to appeal to their audiences’ emotions. On the other hand, the post made by Barrack Obama showed patterns of humor to appeal to the readers' emotions. The study discovered that the posts that showed negativity and fear were less likely posted and shared as compared to the humorous, enthusiastic ones. Observations revealed that social media played a large part in determining how a candidate’s message was spread across the country. Thus the content shared on social media sites, should be well regulated by the candidates.

As social media is growing to become a large part of political campaigns, many researchers have tried to determine how it integrates with the traditional forms of media. According to Conway, Kenski, and Wang (2015), a new trend is coming up where social media platforms which include twitter and Facebook are acting as sources of journalistic content for the mainstream media such as newspapers and TV stations. Conways et al. (2015) study shows that the relationship between twitter and the top newspapers in the USA is reciprocal. Even though most political leaders are reliant on the various forms traditional media, they cannot avoid the fact that social media still has the influence to get them the results they want. Twitter posts in some electoral campaigns have been able to foretell the agenda for the newspapers in certain topics (Conways et al., 2015). Therefore, social media influence is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to politics in the USA.

Hong and Nadler (2012), carried out a study to determine social media use by the 2012 presidential candidates and how the new technology affected the elections. Relationship between the candidate's salience, which was defined as the number of times the candidates were discussed in social media platforms and the candidates amount of engagement with followers in the social sites was measured (Hong & Nadler, 2012). The study discovered that social media use was able to enlarge the methods of election campaigns. The results also showed that presidential candidate activity on social media platforms did not have much effect on the amount of attention they got in online conversations (Hong & Nadler, 2012). Meaning that whether the candidates were engaged on social media or not the platforms still played a significant role in determining the election process.

Kelly (1962) in her paper aims to examine how mass media affects the campaign and the entire electoral process. She states that mass media is critical in the campaign process because it allows the transmission of campaign propaganda to large groups of people. It enables politicians to reach their target groups in a quicker way that is more cost-effective (Kelley, 1962). Mass media outlets have the power to select what agenda they will transmit. Therefore, they get to choose the content that they feel is most appropriate to reach the audience. This could be a disadvantage to the small candidates who are not as popular as the others.

 The media transmits information from politicians in different ways, therefore, politicians must master the art of saying things differently in various forms of media (Kelley, 1962). Lastly, the media presents data in the context that they originate, meaning that they could present data based on their opinion of who might win and their view of the personality of the candidate. Mass media has been found to have a direct and powerful force in shaping and changing voter behavior. Thus, as social media is a form of mass media, its influence on American politics cannot be undermined.

Larregu and Marshall (2019), in their study view social media platforms as independent sources of information that are capable of changing political news broadcasting. They state that Government-controlled press outlets are often used to oppress the opposition and are characterized by high levels of biases in the reports they give, thus limiting its potential for effecting change. However, on the other hand, Larregu and Marshall describe independent media as being an avenue that can change the voters’ behaviors and the electoral process ( Larregu & Marshall, 2019). This is because such news outlets are fair in their editorial content, the information they reveal about candidates, and they provide a platform for every candidate to express their self equally. The study showed that such forms of media have the opportunity to change electoral outcomes and mobilizations significantly.

Social media is often used as a tool where people can express themselves and showcase their identity. It is this feature of social media platforms that has specifically been advantageous to presidential candidates who want to be close to their voters (McLaughlin & Macafee , 2019; Liu, 2019). Social media applications have cut the middle man who used to be the new outlets, and now candidates can easily converse with their followers and interact with them, thus gather more support. By carrying out a two-wave study in the USA before the 2016 election, McLaughlin and Macafee (2019), discovered following Donald Trump, or Hillary Clinton increased their identification by their voters, therefore increasing their support. The study showed that social media was essential in campaign elections as it helped the candidates get closer to their intended audience affecting the amount of support they received.

Social media mostly shape political communication in today's age. According to Stier, Bleier, Lietz, and Strohmaier (2018), as more politicians are using social media platforms to advance their goals, it has now become a question of how they should structure their message when addressing their followers. Candidates are left to decide whether they should discuss topics that are important to the mass audience or to tailor messages based on the specific habits of their audience on social media platforms (Stier et al., 2018). Through concentrating on a 2013 German state campaign, Stier et al. (2018) found that candidates focus more on diverse subjects rather than on what appeals to the mass audience. Numerous findings show that politically motivated statements posted on social media sites are mostly as a result of specific features of audience habits and also the social issues that they face. Therefore, this showed that social media has a tremendous influence on how politicians structure their messages and how they communicate to their people.

All of these papers have revealed that mass media and specifically social media play a crucial role in affecting political and electoral outcomes. The papers have shown how social media platforms play a huge role in influencing candidate support, candidate messages, candidates’ popularity, and candidate proximity to their voters. All these factors show that social media has a significant part in presidential elections, and therefore, it should be considered as a very vital factor during electoral campaigns.

References

Borah, P. (2016). Political Facebook use: Campaign strategies used in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 13(4), 326-338.

Conway, B. A., Kenski, K., & Wang, D. (2015). The rise of Twitter in the political campaign: Searching for intermedia agenda-setting effects in the presidential primary. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(4), 363-380.

Hong, S., & Nadler, D. (2012). Which candidates do the public discuss online in an election campaign?: The use of social media by 2012 presidential candidates and its impact on candidate salience. Government Information Quarterly, 29(4), 455-461.

Kelley, S. (1962). Elections and the mass media. Law and Contemporary Problems, 27(2), 307-326.

Larreguy, H., & Marshall, J. (2019). The incentives and effects of independent and government-controlled media in the developing world.The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Persuasion. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190860806.013.13

Liu, Y. I. (2019). Online and Offline Communication and Political Knowledge and Participation in Presidential Campaigns: Effects of Geographical Context. International Journal of Communication, 13, 24.

McLaughlin, B., & Macafee, T. (2019). Becoming a Presidential Candidate: Social Media Following and Politician Identification. Mass Communication and Society, 1-20.

Stier, S., Bleier, A., Lietz, H., & Strohmaier, M. (2018). Election campaigning on social media: Politicians, audiences, and the mediation of political communication on Facebook and Twitter. Political Communication, 35(1), 50-74.