Politics and Social Media

I distinctively remember the slogan, ‘Kevin 07’, however that’s all that I remember about the political campaign. Being in year 8, politics was somewhat pointless and a waste of energy, I was much more concerned with changing my MySpace music and layout, and not offending anyone with my new choice of ‘top friends’. Life was difficult!  But for some strange reason I recently began to follow Kevin Rudd on Instagram despite the fact that my interest in politics is almost nil. I have found that I actually find some of the pictures and captions quite amusing and almost feel like Rudd is more relatable. For example the image below made me think about the fact that as a Politician he is fairly light-hearted and doesn’t take everything so seriously, which I would not have even thought about if I didn’t have some connection with him via social media.

Social media is increasingly being utilised by Politicians to communicate with the public, where having an online presence is almost expected. As I have experienced myself, particular platforms such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram are reaching people my age, who are younger and would usually not have so much of an interest in political campaigns and issues. Social media campaigning is becoming equally as important as traditional methods, such as letter drops and posters in most western nations.

The 2008 and Obama campaign was one of the most significant and early social media campaigns that we have seen. The use of Blogging, SMS, and Twitter enabled candidates to express ideas, views and opinions online, reaching a vast amount of potential voters, particularly younger people.  Obama and his team were successfully able to utilise these platforms, particularly YouTube to gain a following by the American public. The republican campaign, however, was so not successful, where it was made to look old fashioned and out-dated as it was much less sophisticated than the opposition’s techniques.
 
According to The Dragon Fly Effect , "The Obama campaign reached 5 million supporters on 15 different social Networks over the course of campaign season; by November 2008, Obama had approximately 2.5 million (some sources say as many as 3.2 million) Facebook supporters, 115,000 Twitter followers, and 50 million viewers of his YouTube channel” (The Dragonfly Effect, 2013). These statistics represent how important social media was for the politicians and his ultimate victory.

There are some weaknesses of the use of social media when it comes to political campaigning. YouTube has a vast amount of potential, but also leaves politicians open to the audience talking back via their own videos on the same platform. Parodies and videos mocking campaigns are widespread, like the video below, and politicians need to be aware that this will occur. Another issue that comes with the use of social media is the idea that politicians need to look a certain way, act in a particular manner and be appealing to the public. There becomes a problem of appearance, as many people may base their votes around ones appearance.  All in All Social media has the potential to influence generations of voters, by providing a new way to communicate to the public and new ways to influence the political landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

The Dragonfly Effect, How Obama Won with Social Media, 2013, viewed 3rd of May 2013
 http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/dragonfly-in-action/case-studies/the-obama-campaign/ 

 

Farrell, C, 2013, lecture 7, Social Media Politics, learning materials on blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 30th of April 2013
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB3Hlv7rg1M

Kindelan, K, 2011, Will President Obama bring campaigning 3.0 to 2012?, social times, viewed 3rd of may 2013 http://socialtimes.com/will-president-obama-bring-campaigning-3-0-to-2012_b58045

 

https://www.facebook.com/KevinRuddMP?sk=app_2309869772&filter=1