Poli Week 4 The Electoral College Argument
Week 4 Discussion: The Electoral College Argument, Politics and Social Media
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapters 5, 6 and 10
Lesson: Read this Week’s Lesson which is located in the Modules tab
Initial Post: minimum of 2 scholarly sources (must include your textbook for one of the sources). Follow-Up Post: minimum of 1 scholarly source for your Follow-Up Post.
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, respond to one of the following options, and label the beginning of your post indicating either Option 1
Option 1: List the ways in which contemporary presidential campaigns have used social media as a campaign tool. Do you consider social media as a successful tool? Explain your answer. Do you see social media as an unsuccessful tool? Explain your answer and provide examples.
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Be sure to make connections between your ideas and conclusions and the research, concepts, terms, and theory we are discussing this week.
Follow-Up Post Instructions
Respond to at least one peer. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification. Minimum of 1 scholarly source which can include your textbook or assigned readings or may be from your additional scholarly research.
Sample Paper
Ways in which Contemporary Presidential Campaigns have used Social Media as a Campaign Tool
Social media has been used as a powerful campaign tool in the last few decades by politicians. Besides reaching out to the followers and finding more followers, the politicians use social media to raise funds to facilitate their campaigns. Some of politicians’ most common social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Podcasting, and YouTube, among others (Russo et al., 2020). Social media is considered a low-cost platform that political candidates use to disseminate political information. In 2016, candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Donald trump fostered solid social movements among the voters and raised a lot of money. Social media has allowed candidates to go viral and gain attention as voters support causes and organize civic participation.
Social Media as a Successful Tool
I consider social media a successful campaign tool based on the shreds of evidence of various electoral processes, especially for president Barrack Obama in 2008 (Rahim, 2018). Social media is one of the factors considered to have contributed to Obama’s win. Obama had 32 million Facebook fans during the election night, while Mitt Romney had 12 million Facebook fans. This shows that Obama knew the importance of social media, and he used it to create influence and action, which led to his win. Social media is effective because it widens and quickens the transmission of information that the candidates want their followers to know. Additionally, social media is effective because it helps engage young voters. Social media also allows the politician to gauge instantaneously how the public responds to an issue or a controversy and decide which step to take next.
References
- Rahim, S. A. (2018, August). Social Media and Political Marketing: A Case Study of Malaysia During the 2018 General Election. In 5th International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (IcoSaPS 2018) (pp. 17-21). Atlantis Press. file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/25904088.pdf
- Russo, V., Valesi, R., Gallo, A., Laureanti, R., & Zito, M. (2020). “The Theater of the Mind”: The Effect of Radio Exposure on TV Advertising. Social Sciences, 9(7), 123. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343003986_The_Theater_of_the_Mind_The_Effect_of_Radio_Exposure_on_TV_Advertising
