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Block, Joshua

Dr. Colombo

UWRT 1104

30 January 2017

Social Media and Its Role in Politics

As society and technology advance through time, so do the various platforms on the

internet for social media and interaction. Social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram,

and Facebook, have been growing and enhancing exponentially throughout the past few years

and continue to do so. As many things in our society begin to transfer to the internet (such as

shopping, banking, booking meetings, etc.), so does the populous with their everyday thoughts,

actions, opinions, and more recently their political standpoints. With arguably the most

controversial election in decades having just concluded, we have seen numerous instances of

violence in the streets of big cities, female rights and immigration protests, and countless

pictures, videos, tweets, or posts regarding individuals views on the outcome of the election

(most of which being quite negative). As seen in the recent past, most individuals who are deeply

ingrained in social media tend to have more negative feelings towards President Donald Trump,

and more positive feelings towards his competitors in the election such as Bernie Sanders or

runner-up Hillary Clinton. It has become a trend on social media for those to voice their political

opinions in a very stern manner, and also to denounce those who might have a differing opinion

than theirs. With this newfound trend, more and more individuals have begun to formulate

opinions on issues they might not have particularly paid attention to before. One might wonder

with all these people who are in opposition to Donald Trump, how have things ended up the way

that they have? This is because of several different factors; however one factor that stands out
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among others is that social media affects different people in different ways. With an increasing

number of opinionated individuals and well-known politicians utilizing social media to present

their political standpoints, or with the intent of benefiting their various campaigns, social media

has begun to play an increasingly prominent role in todays politics and it has begun to affect the

way that certain individuals approach specific politicians, political campaigns, and political

viewpoints.

The recently past presidential election in 2016 had more influence from social media than

any other past election in history. This past election was quite controversial due to the views and

actions of the headlining candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump, being an

already widely known celebrity for his television show The Celebrity Apprentice, became even

more widely known when he decided to run for president. Trump grew in both popularity and

notoriety when he began to present himself as the outsider or non-politician in the election

by speaking in a less politically correct manner than the rest of his competitors. Even his slogan

Make America Great Again arose controversy amongst many. Instead of presenting himself as

a politician, he focused more on presenting himself as a businessman with vast knowledge of

finance. As time went by and his campaign grew, as did his popularity on social media. As an

avid twitter user himself, Trump would often post his political viewpoints on popular issues such

as gun control, illegal immigration, foreign policy, and so on. Trump would also post

controversial tweets attacking certain individuals including his running mates, which also

contributed to his growing popularity. On February 12, 2016 at 2:45 pm, Trump tweeted

@realDonaldTrump If @TedCruz doesnt clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads,

I have standing to sue him for not being a natural citizen. This tweet, among many, had much to

do with the large gap between followers and opposition. Much of what was seen of Donald
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Trump on social media was negative posts, usually with the intent on deterring more people from

supporting him. Quite a bit of these negative posts were actually a part of opposing candidate

Hillary Clintons campaign. Hillary Clinton, having already run for president in the past, being

the Secretary of State, and being First lady when her husband Bill Clinton was in office, focused

her campaign around her experience in politics, her advocacy for the democratic agenda, and

strategically asserting a negative image onto Donald Trump. Clinton, having support from many

big names in both politics (Included at-the-time president Barack Obama), and pop culture

(including celebrity names such as Madonna), would often utilize her support factors, and social

media to present herself as the logical choice on the ballot, especially over her competitor

Donald Trump. In Clintons campaign, she would often attack Donald Trump using social media

to arise a strong opposition to him in many avid social media users. In the early election, Clinton

had a significant lead over her opponents. She lost some support, however, when controversy

began to arise when new stories regarding the 2012 Benghazi attack were leaked. Although her

lead began to slowly diminish as the election grew closer to its conclusion, she still maintained a

lead against Donald Trump up until the actual election itself, where Trump takes the lead and

wins the electoral college 306 to Hillarys 232. Hillary Clinton had a strong campaign, much of

which based on social media, but to the surprise to many, she still did not win the election. This

election was particularly intriguing over other because due to social medias involvement, one

side would become widely socially acceptable, whereas the other would be ridiculed for simply

supporting that side. This is widely determinate on the area inquired. In large cities and largely

populated areas, it became only socially acceptable to support Hillary Clinton over Donald

Trump. Large political arguments would arise on social media lessly about actual politics and

more about morality, and Trump supporters would be ridiculed for simply supporting Trump.
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There were even instances of physical assault on Trump supporters for being just that. Of course

on the other end of the spectrum, in more rural areas and less densely populated areas, it became

a social norm to be a Trump supporter rather than a Clinton supporter. This ideology of social

acceptance/denial based on political views is still present both in social media and real life, even

post election.

Social media has influenced much of the populous to become more strongly opinionated

in politics and current events/issues. In times before social media was created or widely used,

politics was much more live and in-person. People would be forced to have in-person debates

over political issues, since there was nowhere for them to post about it on the internet, or any

internet for that matter. In these times, not all people were involved in politics, or they would not

have as strong opinions on certain issues. So how has social media influenced people to become

more adamant in nature and more strongly opinionated in politics? Well, social media presents a

new platform in which people can more openly voice their opinions, with less real-life

opposition or consequences. In real-life situations, Americans tend to avoid conversational

situations where they have differing political views, or just people who have differing political

views altogether. It is common to surround yourself with those of like mind. Although this is the

case in real-life interactions, people tend to act more bold in online interactions in terms of the

things they say to others, the things they post, and especially their political views. As social

media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have grown in popularity, so has the trend to post

your every thought and belief on them. The growing popularity of social media platforms, along

with the high amount of controversy attributed to the recent presidential election, has led to large

amounts of strongly opinionated posts, arguments, and threats on social media. The most

common opinion on social media was that Donald Trump was the worst option on the ballot.
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Although Trump had a vast amount of supporters, the vast majority of what was posted to social

media by the common individual was anti-Trump material. When Trump won the election, many

of these avid anti-Trump social media activists began to grow even more passionate on the

subject. Due to such activity on these social media platforms, it began to become part of these

individuals lives. What was happening over the internet and on these social media platforms was

beginning to happen in real-life. Social media was a large contributing factor in the real-life

protests and violence that did and is still occurring.

With the constant technological progression of society, the more access there is to

knowledge, current events, and platforms for people to voice their standpoint. As seen in the

recent 2016 presidential election, American politics has been changed by the recent integration of

social media in politics. With the newly arisen tension present with the inauguration of Donald

Trump, more instances of of this political divide will begin to occur. The tendency for social

media to unnecessarily cause a divide between those of differing political views is something

that is occurring increasingly more often in todays society. Due to social media causing those

who utilize it avidly to formulate even stronger opinions than they had before, it further divides

them with those who have the opposing view. If politically interested individuals have opinions

that they would like to share with those of like-mind, they should do it in a face-to-face

interaction. If politically interested individuals have opinions that they would like to share with

those that are not of like-mind, they should have a peaceful debate of opinions also in a face-to-

face interaction. It would aid American politics, and lessen the divide between those of opposing

views, if social media was not as prominent as it has become in todays society..
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Works Cited

Duggan, Maeve. Smith, Aaron. The Political Environment on Social Media, October 25th 2016

http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/10/25/the-political-environment-on-social-media/

Snyder, Benjamin. Here Are 10 of Trumps Most Controversial Tweets, March 21st 2016

http://fortune.com/2016/03/21/donald-trump-controversial-tweets/