Though many fear the outcome of what lies ahead for America (and the world) in the next four years, while others cheer for a "fresh hand" dipping into American politics, it does make you wonder how someone who spat unjustified prejudice and ludicrous ideas into the ears of a nation,well, how he truly got to where he is today.
We all know the media has always had a strong hand in portraying the worlds biggest events, and when the digital age veered its head into the world, well the surge of news and current events entering the digital stream began to rise rapidly and hit many people, in many place all over the globe.
This is
where the creation of civilian journalism was born, and also the rise of
influential opinions creating and changing a mass of people’s attitudes
and behaviours.
Many studies have been conducted on how influential powers & media messages
can have an effect on individual power to make a decision. The results from a majority of the studies concluded that the media do not have a
major strong hold on the minds of the many, and that we are not brainwashed by
all messages that we receive. Well that in some cases is true.We like to think
that we have a strong mind set and that we as free thinking humans are not easily manipulated
by everything we are exposed to..
But what
happens when you are repeatedly consciously and sub consciously exposed to the
same theme of messages. Even though you may not click into all the videos
and stories you see about the election, and skim through many of the opinions
and ideas from friends on this topic, you could not say that in some way,
shape or form, that your opinion or idea of a person/topic was not altered.
In this
blog post I will research and discuss if social media could have had an
influence in the voting outcome of the presidential election.
During
the presidential campaign, American media was drowning in all things Trump and
Hillary. This topic was so hot it began to seep over into international
media. For a task in Public Relation we had to conduct a one month media monitoring log about a specific person or company, a fellow student had monitored Donald Trump and
was swamped by Irish media covering Donald Trump.
It’s safe
to say she did not want to hear his name again after the project.But with the enormous amount of media being published on trump , and our so called
"trust" in honest media, it’s not hard to believe that the
media can influence our opinions on person/topic to some extent.
In 2015
Scholars at the University of Hawaii conducted a study to see "How
Millennials use social media to educate themselves about political issues and
political candidates."(Kelsh,2015)
This students
who conducted the study compared all opinions given from students who part took
in the study who were told about two opposing political candidates. Some
through social media websites like Facebook and some through other "traditional
forms " of informational sources.(Kelsh,2015).
The
students in the study where aged 18-20 years old.
The
study found that :
- Millennials tend to accidentally encounter information on politics on and off line.
- "Millennials’ political opinions are influenced by online interactions and interactions that do not involve the Internet. Many of the college students in this study said their parents were their strongest influences".
- "College students who saw the political candidates’ Facebook pages were much more likely to base their opinions on Facebook community-based cues. These students read comments left on Facebook pages to gauge other people’s opinions of the candidates and also to see how candidates responded to and interacted with citizens". ( Results taken directly from Kelsh,2015)
The main findings in this study suggested that students based their own political opinions
and the reputation of those political candidates on "user generated
comments"(Kelsh,2015) found on the social media pages of those political
candidates.it also suggest that " user-generated comments on social
media can influence the reputations of political candidates in the eyes of
potential Millennial voters. As political conversations often emerge
spontaneously in non-political spaces … audiences will be affected by
candidates"(kelsch,2015)
Taking
the result from the study and general information gathered on the influences of
social media in general, it can be possible to say that social media and
the opinions of people who we hold a respect for, or who we hold as responsible
adults tend to influence the opinions on who we believe we should vote for, it can
also be said that we as millennial's are "stumbling" upon political
information instead of purposely seeking it out, and this sends out a worrying alarm. It
could be a sign that more work should be done in helping millennial's gain interest in
their future leaders and having a voice in the future of their country.
In
summary it is in fact correct to say that social media does have a slight hand
in forming opinions on political leaders, and voting. It could be fair to say
that social media may have had a slight in hand in the presidential election
outcome, this year, but further study maybe be required to fully prove this
theory.
But don’t
not worry friends, yes we love our social media, but we will not become zombies to our Facebook pages. The next time you feel your opinion
forming on a topic or person that social media whips up, stop for a second,
and ask yourself why you feel this way. Rest assured i'm sure your answer is all your "own".
Until Next Time
Stay Open Minded
Stay Social Media Minded
Sources:
Social Study : http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/social-media/facebook-millennial-politics-election
Brace Yourself https://www.google.ie/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi6sunXut_QAhXDnRoKHeFtCY0QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fimgflip.com%2Fi%2Fqjobc&psig=AFQjCNFCeUx2z1p1whSlN2xG0-pSBzvqwA&ust=1481109812167882
Turns 18 https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFR6Uzgp7DnzPK-j2Ep6K96BWmARZOCnCJXwtEGSTmpCo6zrFTNg
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