[Title: Essay 1]
Social media is a new method of creating political dialogue. It helps to build trust among government officials and public, promotes active participation and engagement of policymakers into interests of the nation. It can be regarded as a new form of public affairs approach, where appropriate use can lead to successful outcomes. Before social networks appeared on the internet and became so widely widespread, all policymakers could do was to influence audiences on radio and television. Candidates, who were smiling and charismatic, had indeed more chances to win. If we trace back to the history we remember Kennedy-Nixon debates or series of interview between Clinton and Bush, and we understand how physical appearance, speech and confidence of the candidates were used as a campaign tool. Nowadays, everything is replaced by social media.
Governors all over the USA use social media to share posts and updates on their life, work and interviews with politicians. Majority of them have their own websites, apart from accounts in Facebook and Twitter. Governors compete to gain attention and to keep pace with rapid technological advancement. Jerry Brown California Governor is famous for having more than 1 million of Twitter followers. Janice Brewer State Governor of Arizona drew attention of the social media after wagging a finger at President Obama. It may seem surprising how a single action can increase the number of your supporters; however, social media should never be left underestimated. Correct usage of social media requires political nudges, priming, and correspondence to a domestic environment, apart from simply statistics of “followers”.
Social media is increasingly becoming influential, so that it can have a significant impact on elections. Presidential campaigns determined elections, and there is no better way of targeting electorate in the XXIst century as not from the side of digital networks. The most successful example of social media usage during campaign refers to Barack Obama. In 2008, he had more friends on Facebook that his opponent McCain, and fairly any other candidate could have more. He became the first candidate to use the social media effectively. He understood the underlying importance of social media and served as an example for all following policymakers. Presidential campaign of Obama involved huge spending on social media. In 2012 expenditures on social media of two candidates, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was as following: $47 million compared to $4.7 million only. Obama’s Twitter account is ranked sixth worldwide according to the number of followers, which exceed 16 million people. He participates a lot of times in Twitter forums, and uses it to further promote its policies and legislation.
Social media has become a marketing strategy of today’s world. Many policymakers try to approach their targeting audience through famous social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and many others. Social media gives a range of opportunity to have a closer interaction with the public, gain their trust, and promote transparency, openness and collaborative activities. Social media is different from mass media from the point that people are able to witness the real position, opinion and world outlook of a governor, or policymaker without having that information distorted by various mass media sources. Social media is used because it facilitates goal-achievement of the state and related agencies. Governors of the USA should use social media actively in order to pursue own policies and improve image.
[Title: Essay 2]
Social media is a very powerful tool in public policy. Media plays an important role in information dissemination, which does not only spread a vast amount of information, but forms the basis for public opinion. Policymakers use media in order to influence people through transfer of knowledge, communication of reasoned argument, and moral suasion in order to achieve a policy result. Social media like a brand image can make you famous or can fall to you with a negative critique. Inappropriate use of social media will have an unfavorable shade on your future political career.
Many policymakers have a challenge in using social media in the right way. Most of them perceive social media as a broadcasting tool, without differentiating it from TV or radio. When social media is viewed as an advertising mechanism, it will not work. One of the examples of such irrelevant participation in internet belongs to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. He visited web-site Tagged.com and sent a letter with the intention to sue the website for violating trade laws connected to containing images of pornography. He was so actively demanding Tagged.com to clear up from pornography, that his claims become rather threatening and irrelevant. It is misunderstood whether he wanted to appear as an active fighter against child-pornography. If yes, then he has chosen wrong tools and the wrong way.
Another inappropriate use of twitter account belongs to Barack Obama, who lost up to 40 000 followers in one night. This was the result from Obama’s request to call, email, and tweet leaders of Congress to persuade them raising $14.3 trillion debt limit. This was regarded as President was spamming, on the one hand, and on the other that he was so desperate that he urged his followers to take action.
Familiar Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie has a range of controversial policies. Starting from Gay Marriage equality Bill to recent Bridgegate scandal, he has most disputable activities on social media. It is merely hard to say whether the use of social media is helpful, as long as there are always two sides of the same coin. His attempt to lower flag to half-mast next day after Whitney Houston funeral caused a wave of negative critique. One of the twitter posts was as following:
Thanks @govchristie for degrading the meaning of the American tradition. A half staffed flag has a deeper meaning for Americans. (qtd. OhMyGov News.)
Policymakers around the world understand that ignoring social media in XXIst century will not bring results and political changes. If status-quo is considered as policy option, the not using social media also has its own disadvantages. During the crisis and disputes, social media can indeed promote peace and stability. It is argued that Arab Spring was the direct outcome of twitter revolutions. In such situations government involvement in the digital world is necessary.
Works Cited
“How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012 Presidential Campaign.” Pamela Rutledge Media Psychology Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. <http://mprcenter.org/blog/2013/01/25/how-obama-won-the-social-media-battle-in-the-2012-presidential-campaign/>.
“New York AG Suing Social Network Tagged.com” Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 10 June 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/tagged-child-porn-ag/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20wired27b%20%28Blog%20-%2027B%20Stroke%206%20%28Threat%20Level%29%29>.
“President Barack Obama takes debt battle to Twitter, loses more than 40,000 followers in one day.” NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nydailynews.com/news/obama-loses-40k-twitter-followers-day-article-1.155812>.
“Social Media and Political Engagement.” Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. <http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/>.
“Top 10 Governors in Social Media - Republican Governors Dominate the Board - OhMyGov News.” Top 10 Governors in Social Media - Republican Governors Dominate the Board - OhMyGov News. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. <http://blog.ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2012/03/22/top-10-governors-in-social-media.aspx>.
