The Effect of Social Media on the US Presidential Election

The advancement of media technology has always played an important role in the history of American democracy. In the 19th century, the advancement of printing technology greatly expanded the influence of the publishing industry and the differentiation of the newspaper industry, which in turn affected the ecology of American politics and made the media an important force in the American election. Radio stations and television stations became the main information dissemination platforms in the 20th century. Then in the 21st century, the proliferation of online media has given people more political choices.

With the 2016 US presidential election, people’s attention to the media has gradually shifted to social media, especially social platforms such as Facebook. Information is spread directly between users without the need for fact checking or editorial judgment. Social media is a virtual community in which people can freely create, share and exchange information (Ahlqvist, T., Bäck, A., Halonen, M., & Heinonen, S., 2008). The biggest feature of social media is that it provides a broad platform for user-generated content ( Kaplan, A. M., Haenlein, M., 2010). It is precisely because of these characteristics that social media has gradually become a political propaganda tool.

On January 12, 2016, US President Barack Obama delivered his last State of the Union address during his term. Two days before the release of the State of the Union address, the White House opened Snapchat account which is currently the most popular social media among Americans with 100 million daily active users. The White House does not publish all the videos on various platforms, but focuses on different ones: Facebook has video clips of the State of the Union address; on Twitter, in addition to video clips, there are also live texts; on Tumblr, there are Obama speeches and related Gif of visual data.

The White House’s new media team is not inferior to professional new media companies in the market in terms of content and communication. The strategy they adopt on social media is also the “distributed media” strategy that publish targeted content on different social media platforms to achieve the best dissemination effect.

As early as the 2008 general election, Obama’s new media team gave people the first experience of the power of social networks in the campaign. Obama is the first candidate to use the Internet and social media as his main campaign strategy. According to Edelman (2009), Obama had over 115,000 followers on Twitter, more than 23 times those of McCain. The campaign sent out 1 billion e-mails, including 10,000 unique messages targeted at specific segments of their 13 million member list. The campaign had garnered 3 million mobile and SMS subscribers.

In the 2016 general election, as more and more young people shift their attention from traditional media such as TV and newspapers to social media, social media has become a battlefield that all candidates cannot ignore.

According to a Pew Research Center (2015), 16% of registered voters will follow candidates on social media, while in the 2010 midterm elections, this number was only 6%. Regarding the main reason why voters follow political figures on social media, 41% said it was to get political news faster than others, 35% said that they could feel that they could have closer personal contact with candidates, and 26% of people believe that the information they obtain on social networks is more reliable than traditional news organizations. Among Republican voters, this proportion is as high as 33%.

After losing to Obama who used social media in 2008, the Clinton team naturally paid more attention to social media. Her campaign video was first posted on her campaign website, but the main channels of dissemination were Facebook and Twitter. She also opened her own Snapchat account to communicate with voters through Story selfie videos. Hillary Clinton performed various interpretations of the LOGO during his campaign, including a rainbow version celebrating the legalization of same-sex marriages, and a breakfast version made by supporters using bacon, scrambled eggs, and bread.

Social media also gives candidates the opportunity to bypass the media, show their “real” selves, and communicate directly with a large number of people. Especially for Republican candidates, when the mainstream media distort their own remarks, Twitter is their fastest and most direct counterattack channel. In the October 2015 Democratic primary debate, Trump used his Twitter to attack Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Republican competitors, the media, and even voters to achieve the purpose of controlling media attention.

With the continuous development of social media, I believe that it will have more and more political influence. In the US election, the use of social media will be an important factor for in the election.

Reference:

[1]Ahlqvist, T., Bäck, A., Halonen, M., & Heinonen, S., (2008). Socail media roadmaps exploring the futures triggered by social media. VTT Tiedotteita — Valtion Teknillinen Tutkimusjeskus, 2454,13.

[2]David Talbot, “White House 2.0,” The Bos- ton Globe, January 11, 2009 and Edelman Research, “The Social Pulpit,” 2009, p. 2

[3]Edelman Research, “The Social Pulpit,” 2009, p. 2

[4] More Americans are using social media to connect with politicians. (2020). Retrieved 14 December 2020, from https://www.google.com.hk/amp/s/www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05 /19/more-americans-are-using-social-media-to-connect-with-politicians/%3famp=1