Social media has really taken off over the past couple of years. The world of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat is no longer just for fun and games. Social media is used in so many different aspects of our world I honestly can’t think of what life would be like without it. For me, I get my news from Twitter and Facebook. I keep up with pop culture through Instagram, and I learn and educate myself on current and relevant events on these platforms as well. The major topic in social media in 2016: Trump and Clinton.
This election has taken over every aspect of social media and vise versa. Not only can I watch live debates on social media, but I can also be connected with the candidates themselves. Social media has really kept the candidates PR teams busy in this election yet still we see the true colors of Donald and Hilary shine through at times. Trump himself took upon Twitter to share his thoughts with the world in 2013. Super charismatic (see below). We’ve all heard the saying “you can never truly delete something you post on the internet”. This tweet was “deleted” when Trump started running. Nice try, Trump but social media has given the people tools to comb through your past!
This has changed everything about the election. Because of social media we are all able to share and see others opinions openly and come together (or pull apart) as a nation. The opinions of many are painted all over social media it is hard to avoid it. On top of that, the credibility of the candidates suffers because of social media. Now, more than ever, people question what is real and what is a facade when they scroll through their timeline and see endless posts. The candidates are made a mockery of left and right, and their words are twisted in every direction and talked about for all to see.
In our class we learn how to compose media online so I thought it would be worth it to see how America is making use of this kind of media.
The transparency social media has created is both good and bad in my opinion. I can’t wait to see how it carries in future elections.
Steph B
I totally agree with you on how social media has affected this election and their campaigns. With social media, nobody, especially politicians, can hide anything they’ve written or posted on the internet. Throughout this past year, people keep quoting Trump’s crazy tweets about his “haters” or my personal favorite, the one where he talks about how wrong Kristin Stewart was for cheating on Robert Pattinson. He’s totally right, but it’s still weird. It just shows that anybody can dig up any kind of dirt on someone. I think that the future will see even more transparency with all the new types of social media that will be created. It makes you think about the things you post online because you need to be careful about your future career and the possibility of getting in trouble for the dumb things you tweeted that you thought were funny. Social media will continue to play a big role in political campaigns, but I’m also curious to see how it will affect them in the future.
Jen Clay
Social media has become huge in presidential campaigns, and it almost makes me uncomfortable at this point. I think the use of social media platforms gives candidates more celebrity than they would have otherwise as politicians. Clearly they would still be important in the eyes of society, but I think we would have a slightly different perception of them. I also find your mention of an internet footprint to be particularly interesting. Not that I anticipate being at the center of popular media conversation any time soon, but it’s weird to think about the fact that the things I’ve posted on the internet years and years ago could follow me throughout my life.
Tyler B
I definitely would agree that this election more than any other in history was shaped by social media in many ways. For one, I don’t know that any candidate for any office has ever been more engaged on twitter than @realDonaldTrump. While that has certainly come back to bite him in terms of things he’s tweeted in the past, it’s also helped him to connect to his followers in a meaningful way. I feel like Clinton’s lack of social media use prior to the election has definitely helped her, or at least it didn’t hurt her campaign. Also, like you said, a lot of young people get their news through social media now, so that just makes it even more important.
Wendy L
This is a great way to look out how media has impacted the way we see political figures. Unless you are completely tapped out of all forms of social media, you are likely to see what the candidates are thinking. Although most of what is posted is most likely highly edited and than edited again to make sure it portrays the candidate in the right light. You are completely right when you said that nothing is deleted from the internet and the example of what trump posted on twitter and then “deleted” was a great portrayal!
Eric T
Depending if you took the class and who you had for it, I read the “Circle” in my Narrative and Technology course. This reminded me of this book because it’s about this tech company that dominates social norms by how the public use their products. One of these norms comes to be ‘going transparent.’ In the book if someone goes transparent, then anyone else can pretty much live stream their life through a video feed. Although this is bit of an extreme, it elicits the progressing capabilities of technology and the growing public demand for complete honesty. I know politicians now willingly share part of their personal lives, but I believe that we have already entered the territory of diving too deeply into public figures’ social affairs.