Assignment 3 Discussion Board: Media and Political Campaigns

The readings for this blog post piqued my interest as I am still flabbergasted at our current President Trump and his social media usage. I am an older woman and have watched many campaigns during my years and nothing was like this last race for presidency in 2016. I am still in shock that social media was a force a force to be reckoned with in this past election simply because of past elections and social media wasn’t as prevalent. Social media has played a huge part in in the last presidency and different political campaigns all together. One of the reasons why social media and the use of smartphones were well received during the campaigns is because of the change in technology over the past decade or so.  Most people use smartphones which are phones with mini computers that give you access to everything like entertainment, technology, news including political campaigns. Humans are attached to their cellphones. In the reading, Cell Phones, Social Media and Campaign 2014, the author confirms the cellphone usage for political campaigns, “among 30-49 year olds. Some 40% of voters ages 30-49 have used their cellphone to follow this year’s election campaign (up from 15% in 2010),” (Aaron Smith, Pg. 1)

Research has shown that there has been a huge connection between political campaigns and social media over the years. People feel that that one of the best ways to reach voters is through social media and through all channels. Twitter happens to be one of the best social channels to use because everybody is on Twitter as it is very popular and it reaches the masses. Twitter and Instagram are very personal even though the world and your handle are connected that’s why a lot of people gravitate to these social media sites. In the reading, The role played by special media in political participation and electoral campaigns, it was stated, “Personal communication via social media brings political parties closer to their potential viewers.” This is completely true and sadly it works because Donnie (Trump) has figured it out and is relentless with his twitter fingers. In my department in my company we joke about his tweets every day and we are still shocked that he became president. In my eyes, he has always been a rude, big mouth bully. He has always been this way and now even in his presidency he does the same things for every situation. The article, Pithy, Mean and Powerful: How Donald Trump Mastered Twitter for 2016 stated, “A year later, Mr. Trump has mastered Twitter in a way no candidate for president ever has, unleashing and redefining its power as a tool of political promotion, distraction, score settling and attack,”

Honestly, I have to agree that media and political campaigns are definitely connected in recent years and it appears that social media is the way to go to gain followers and votes. It’s quick, easy and fun. Even though previous historic mediums like TV and newspapers are still giants in their own rights but social media is a newer wave and it isn’t going anywhere. My question is, after Trump will all the rest of the presidents to come, tweet like him? Sigh…