Essay Example on Election Campaigning: Social Media's New Use

Introduction

Social media has been in existence for about a decade now. The technology that began with the likes of MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter has far advanced to other communication tools and applications with more sophisticated features. As many people use social media to interact, catch up with old friends and even conduct their businesses online, social media has found a new use among some quarters. According to Harder et al., the use of social media has advanced to election campaigning in a more sophisticated manner. It is not difficult to see a social media candidate who entirely runs on the platform and manages to succeed in wooing voters in the very end (Harder et al. 286). Social media has brought in a new generation of millennial politicians not only to the American Congress but in different countries across the world. This essay explores the influence of social media on elections, positing that indeed, social media is a critical influencer in modern-day election processes.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Targeted Campaign Adverts

The most common application of social media is the use of targeted campaign advertisements. These advertisements are merely well-coordinated campaign pitches that politicians post to specific forums on social media channels, where they are likely to get the traction they need. Social media campaign adverts can be of two natures; to promote a candidate, or spread propaganda against an opponent. For the politicians to determine the target groups, campaign teams often match their slogans, views, and demographics with the respective groups, and then continuously spam the groups by using group administrators to post the messages, videos, memes, and trolls on the pages. The opponent's demographic of supporters may thus not be aware of the words the politician delivers to the group (Allcott and Matthew 217). The net effect is that eventually, the support base is charged up and ready to attend rallies and do personal campaigns as well.

Targeted advertisements can be played or displayed in channels such as social media websites, links to social media channels through YouTube videos and even within social media application groups. The targeted community is often aware of the politician in question and would be supporting them. Targeting a particular group ensures that the message is tailored to suit the political needs of the group. For instance, assuming that a politician seeks to target an African-American demographic, they would likely focus the message on issues affecting the community such as employment and healthcare (Allcott and Matthew 223). Politicians that develop targeted campaign adverts are not seen to be aggressive or unique. It is indeed the most common and least offensive of the social media strategies that politicians apply in their campaigns. The social media platform rarely questions the adverts, and neither do they raise a lot of legal queries.

Personality-Centric Social Media Games

Many social media applications have in-app games to keep users busy and engaging with each other. Simple games from application stores are often linked to social media sights to encourage competition between users. Indeed, the political class has found a use for this strategy as well. Many politicians develop tailor-made games to teach social media users policy issues. Advertisers package some of these games as personality tests that then post the results within the social media platform, indicating the user's support for the particular politician. These games are often legal and rarely do they carry offensive gestures and symbols. Regardless, the politician develops the game or test to effect a particular result and impose a message on the social media user (Carlisle and Robert 893). Thanks to the in-app advertising features, social media platforms allow politicians a subscription service and a lot of space as well.

In-app advertising using tools such as games and tests is unique and rarely done by average politicians. Nevertheless, it is not a far-fetched concept in presidential elections. In the United States, the presidential elections are very animated and often result in the development of anti-candidate slogans, memes, and trolls. The marketing of the clickable links to ensure that users show support for a candidate and even enter online games is often an aggressive strategy. Presidential elections in the United States have demonstrated nonetheless an extreme social media obsession that can hardly be met in other countries (Harder et al. 290). The millions of Americans subscribing to social media are often intrigued by the animations and original games developed to encourage an understanding of political issues in the country.

Data Mining in the Social Media Context

Data mining is the use of sophisticated software tools referred to as big data analytics to develop a pattern around a set of data elements (Carlisle and Robert 895). Data mining can be used to determine how many users, for instance, have used negative slurs against a politician, hence determine how much the politician is hated. Data mining, however, is often used to gather information concerning the demographics using the social media platform, to target them effectively. The data can indicate the most prevalent age group, the time when social media users are most active, and even the gender of the most vocal persons on social media. Such persons are often approached individually by the politicians to aid in the campaign exercise. It is through their narrative that politicians can push their agenda. Data mining, however, is the approach through which politicians acquire such data.

The challenge with data mining is that it does not limit the client on any demographic they wish to know. At times, the information gathered can be susceptible to hacking. It involves penetrating accounts that are private and even breaching confidence to get data (Allcott and Matthew 229). Social media companies have on several occasions expressed their regret at not being able to capture data miners who gather unauthorized information through hacking. Similarly, these companies have not been able to fully address the concern of fake accounts purporting to belong to certain demographics, often used to slur the opposing side in an election. Although security is often an issue in data mining during social media political campaigns, the concern is often very trivial as the required data is mostly used for strategic campaign purposes.

Social Influencers

Social media has a set of persons who have impeccable following and popularity. These persons can be referred to as celebrities or socialites. Indeed, celebrities have on several occasions in the past been used to promote a political agenda. Not only do they talk in conventions and even do house calls, but they also upload social media messages as well (Carlisle and Robert 891). A good number of these celebrities are hired to play these roles as they can make a significant influence by posting videos and photos on their accounts. Regardless, the use of social influencers is more effective when the political views of the politician are shared by the celebrity as well. It is common to have socialites defend a stand or particular political opinion and use their belief to aid a politician in their campaigns. These strategies are not only useful to the politician's follower; they appeal to the followers of the celebrity as well.

Celebrity influence in social media is quite high. Some of the celebrities have millions of followers that can form a powerful demographic, while some celebrities are very vocal and can easily command following within a politician's social media page. Any of the strategies employed seeks to send mass messages frequently and ensure that the audience is well aware of the issues the politician is defending and campaigning for (Harder et al. 284). Socialites are good faces for the party campaigns as well. Many politicians want to associate with different groups such as millennials, the impaired, persons of different social orientations and specific pressure groups as well. They hence use socialites who appeal to these groups to make them warm up to them early enough.

Conclusion

Social media may not fully address all the campaign needs of the politician, but it is the easiest way to get a campaign started, even before the official campaign calendar is launched. Many social media websites have been known to cash in on these opportunities and end up with a lot of products ready for use by the politicians (Harder et al. 287). Currently, about half of the world accesses social media in some way. These persons can easily be influenced by social media applications and websites to make political decisions, without attending rallies or listen to other media sources. Social media has revolutionized the social space around the world; now, the same technology is taking over the political realm. Politicians who take advantage of the technology gain early following and get to pass their messages consistently over a fairly affordable platform.

Works Cited

Allcott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow. "Social media and fake news in the 2016 election." Journal of economic perspectives31.2 (2017): 211-236. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.31.2.211. Accessed April 19, 2019.

Carlisle, Juliet E., and Robert C. Patton. "Is social media changing how we understand political engagement? An analysis of Facebook and the 2008 presidential election." Political Research Quarterly 66.4 (2013): 883-895. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/23612065.pdf?casa_token=h6YFoJSwiGUAAAAA:5maJqlEgIkZ-q4eJFHgGWl5Aj8q-k3SA8gIcO5KlVTzZTiXZSRIEFeJHdCdmplBohrFQKZPALfr5Bem6xQIm4Wbq9WVvRiTc8WLbZ5zpZhlrnRh7nTEN. Accessed April 19, 2019.

Harder, Raymond A., Julie Sevenans, and Peter Van Aelst. "Intermedia agenda setting in the social media age: How traditional players dominate the news agenda in election times." The International Journal of Press/Politics 22.3 (2017): 275-293. https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/acd87e/142929.pdf. Accessed April 19, 2019.