The emergence of social media has been critical to the political world through aiding of participation. It is important that every party and stakeholder is involved in the political process. The essential nature of politics makes it necessary for certain groups of people to participate. The value of asserting political influence surpasses the imaginary benefits that people often lay against it. In the contemporary world, the use of social media as a tool for engaging on political matters has increased tremendously. Over the recent years, many groups have continued to assert their influence in politics by engaging the political class on the social platform. Narrowing down to the topic, Facebook has been one of the most used platforms to engage the political class. While it remains to be seen the degree to which the social platforms are ineffective for the political class, there is no doubt into the role that politics has played in the society. In the developed world, activists groups have continued to pile pressure on the government and the political class to meet some of its objectives. The essentiality of such engagements makes it necessary to conclude that such a platform has become indispensable. In other parts of the world, accessing the political leaders has often been a long dream for everybody. However, Facebook and other social platforms have made it easy to make a point to any targeted leader without necessarily setting sights on them. Current and future political dwells will mainly target the section n of the society that dwells on the social platforms as their only hope of exercising their political will. Setting the parameters of engagement is thus the role that Facebook and other platforms have created. Despite the continued use of social Facebook, the unanswered question remains, does Facebook increase political participation within teenagers and college students?
According to Tufekci & Wilson, Facebook has tremendously increased the political participation among teenagers as well as the college students. In their view, the level of political participation and constant verbal engagement with the political quarters has been enabled by Facebook. In their general summative view, social platforms have grown in popularity among college students and teenagers. They form the largest groups of users. Therefore, it makes it very easy to get involved in political matters. According to the authors, it is important to understand that there are several issues that politicians often fail to address, and such matters are never treated lightly by the people. As such, social media, more so Facebook provides the right avenue to air the grievances. Taking into account the political management, college students have essentially become influential in modern politics. They have increasingly become important to the political groups. Their political powers have also been felt at different capacities over the social platform. Such important is often a critical virtue of asserting political authority and influence the kind of leadership one wishes to have in place. The youths of every country are normally the target of the political class due to their growing population and levels of activity that makes them essential to a political campaign. As a result, they have also seized the opportunity to become useful in shaping political decisions by advancing their political interests through social media. The authors assert that Facebook has provided the teenagers with a universal platform that offers equality to everyone thus making it easy to air your views without fear or class intimidation. It is important for the understanding of every political class that social media has added the political power to the people thus making it difficult to engage in deceit. The authors further say that the availability of social media has made student participation in politics inevitable. It is because many students spend a sizable part of their time on Facebook and other social platforms. It makes it easy for them to participate in political debates by sharing their piece of knowledge regarding the political subject of discussion. As a result, their increased participation in politics can only be attributed to the emergence of Facebook. Facebook is become critical in the modern political environment due to increased usage by teenagers and college students. In their view, the influence that students and teenagers have in politics is essential in pushing for their rights.
In the view of Wolfsfeld, Segev & Sheafer, Facebook has increased accessibility to politicians and politics to the college students as well as other teenagers. As a result, their influence in political matters has increased accordingly. It is essential for political players to acknowledge that youths are increasingly becoming aware of their political value in shaping the nation. In this regard, the political will of the youths has been enabled by Facebook that provides them with the appropriate ground where they can flex their political muscles in a bid to make their views understood by the political class. According to the authors, youths form the better part of active Facebook users. The political classes are equally represented on Facebook as well as other social networks. Such representations are often direct or indirect through proxies and other gutter accounts that tend to be used to spew propaganda on political matters while also pouring praise on certain politicians and their ideologies. The increasing involvement on political matters by the youths has seen many people seek to find the middle ground for engaging the society on matters development. As evident in the Arab revolution, social media was used as the major platform to attack scathingly the bad governance and authoritarian Arab regimes that had been in power for several decades. The escalation and the genesis of the revolution can be attributed to social media. During the ousting of Ben Ali, the Ousted Tunisian President as well as the overthrow of Mubarak, young protesters used their hand phones on the streets to spread the revolution message. The vital role that social the Facebook played during the Arab Spring is attributed to increased participation in of teenagers and college students in politics. The authors assert that Facebook has increasingly become vital to the youthful population as they find it easy to engage in political matters. The authors also assert that the atrocities of committed by the various Arab governments were made public through social media where the students found it tenable to express their views. The continued use of the Facebook by students to increase the call for a change of regime in numerous Arab countries resulted in the fierce revolution that led to the ousting of long-serving presidents who had no intention of relinquishing power. The avenues that had been used by various groups to call for change had failed, and many people calling for such regime changes were dealt a big blow as many people were sent to prison. Therefore, students could use proxy accounts to pass their frustrations and anger to the leaders through Facebook as well as mobilize their colleagues to call for the strike and mass action. The result was an uncontrollable demonstration that led Arab Spring. Students from other nations were also mobilized through the process Facebook to find it necessary to participate in the strikes. Considering the reckoning circumstances resulting in the revolution, it is evident that Facebook effectively increased political participation of the college students. It helped them spread the revolutionary message throughout the Arab world to call an end to the reigning tyranny. The Arab leaders in power had increasingly become lifetime rulers with very few willing to quit for a change of leadership. However, when the mobilization began on social media, the frustrations of the students and other teenagers grew, and this powerful, informative tool became critical in ensuring that the message went round calling for change. According to authors, the Suicidal measure taken by the Tunisian graduate marked the beginning of the end to decades of draconian rulers.
According to Howard et al., the use of Facebook and social media in political affairs is indispensable. The authors argue that such platform provides the right platform to air the kept pains. As a result, students and teenagers have found it easy to provide the information to their colleagues on political matters. In the past Arab Spring, Facebook enabled student participation on political matters thereby giving them the chance to be heard as well as hear the views of their colleagues. Such exchange of information about the agonies faced by others made it easy to make revolution a reality. It is important to understand that Facebook offers information provision avenues that help create the pass the critical information to others. Facebook enabled the students and teenagers to force the mainstream media to provide comprehensive coverage that would later help to provide the essential message of change. The role of Facebook in the revolution indicates the how people have been empowered to political participation by Facebook. It is critical to acknowledge the value and the role that such platforms have created to offer the students and the teenagers the chance to express themselves without fear of persecution. The authors assert that social media provides the platform for the political class to target the students as voting body and as such is instrumental in the political circuits. When students and teenagers become the target of a political campaign and the general vote hunting, it becomes increasingly easy for them to participate in the electoral processes. The value that comes with the freedom to air the opinion as created by Facebook makes it easy to understand the how vital it is for political participation. The authors also say that teenagers find their involvement in political matters uncensored on Facebook and their ideas reaching the target without any form of editing done thus making it motivating to continue airing the views on such pertinent issues. The authors say that in as much as the Arab leadership did not offer the necessary free space for the leaders to express themselves on critical issues, Facebook provided a trustable platform for the teenagers and college students to avail the all-time hidden truth from the people. With truth at hand, college student upped their political participation in the wake of the Arab revolution. Many nations in the Arab world had hidden the truth from their people by controlling the flow of information. However, Facebook made such information available to the people who had been ruled for several years without essential information on government issues and the outside world. any other channel of communication was untrustworthy and many students felt a relief in the presence of Facebook. It further boosted their confidence in the use of social media and the ultimate improved freedom to exercise their democratic rights against the authoritarian regimes. The regimes have always exercised the authoritarianism over their people. Like other social media platforms, Facebook offer a free world to the people where they can speak their minds and also listen to the rest of the world on matters that concern their welfare. The authors say that listening to the rest of the world made the students realize how much they had been denied by the government. As a result, they found solace on Facebook where they could easily seek alternative and the way forward for their agonies. Today, Facebook has become a very useful tool for political reasons. Many students have become increasingly engaged in on Facebook exchanging ideas about their political structures as well as governance. As a result, students Unions have been on record pushing for political reforms in young democracies. The subsequent series of violent protests are still remembered by the as having been fuelled by Facebook where students called for mass action as well as their meetings to call for demonstration. Facebook also facilitated the foreign support where they could engage other world authorities to provide financial as well as moral support for their course. It remains critical that since then Facebook has been considerately powerful tool for political use. To date, several college students still engage national governments on Facebook to demand certain actions or changes from the reigning regimes. Others also use Facebook to rum support for their political affiliations. It shows how Facebook makes increasingly easier for college students engage in politics.
According to Correa, Hinsley & De Zuniga, the web in general has been very vital in propelling political influence through social platforms that make it easy to cast opinion on political matters. The authors say that the web and the internet has played crucial role in ensuring that every endeavor by the youthful population is freely exercised on the platforms thus making them rejuvenated towards the course. In their view, teenagers have become increasingly pertinent to online platforms that most of them spend better parts of their time online. Many are often involved in different social activities but still find time for political involvement when prompted by other users who might post politically intriguing issues. In such circumstances, students as well as teenagers get involved more on political issues. The authors also say that Facebook specifically has provided politically-friendly interface that enables students to air volumes of messages without incurring the any cost. Such free service makes it easier to get involved in political matters. Moreover, Facebook makes campaign information available to students. Such availability drives their participation on political issues. Facebook also acts as a means of resistance to political systems. Many students and teenagers use Facebook to organize political protests that tend oppose the political regimes as witnessed in the Arab Spring. The platform enabled millions of students to get information and get involved in political changes they desired. It acted as a catalyst for change.
References
Correa, T., Hinsley, A. W., & De Zuniga, H. G. (2010). Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2), 247-253.
Howard, P. N., Duffy, A., Freelon, D., Hussain, M. M., Mari, W., & Mazaid, M. (2011). Opening closed regimes: what was the role of social media during the Arab Spring?. Available at SSRN 2595096.
Tufekci, Z., & Wilson, C. (2012). Social media and the decision to participate in political protest: Observations from Tahrir Square. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 363-379.
Wolfsfeld, G., Segev, E., & Sheafer, T. (2013). Social media and the Arab spring politics comes first. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(2), 115-137.
