Since the US elections in 2008 the close connection between Social Media and political communication has been brought to the fore. The effective role that Social Media has been made to play once again in the 2012 US elections and its conscious or unconscious replication in the 2014 Indian elections reaffirmed its significance in contemporary political communication. Scholars have confirmed that political candidates are increasingly turning to Social Network Sites (SNS) to persuade voters and that these sites have become prominent sources of political information. Political Communication as a field of study has been about the role of communication in the political process. This paper would like to focus entirely on Social Media as a tool in the political process. Political communication has its beginnings during and between the World Wars. There are various types of political communication and political media. Among the political media the Social Media seems to be the most widely used in contemporary political process. The three main elements of political communication are: ideology, propaganda and persuasion. The deployment of Social Media in putting forth one’s or party’s ideology, propagating one’s or party’s agenda, and persuading the voter is widespread as never before. Many scholars including Walter Lippmann doubted the efficacy of media in public enlightenment that democracy requires. For, they thought that media cannot tell the truth objectively. Harold Lasswell too took note of the tendency of media propaganda to dupe and degrade the voters. His work expressed the fear of propaganda. This view was partly based on the direct effects theories of media. Similar fear about the Social Media is lurking in the minds of many today. To camouflage such fear political spin doctors might employ political Public Relations. Political spin doctors are press agents or publicists employed to promote favourable interpretations to journalists. They also weave reports of factual events into palatable stories. The case for political public relations is that it enables paternalism, pluralism, and pragmatism. But there is also a case against it in that it leads to news management and spin, corporatism in politics, and ‘enlightened self-interest’. The increasing availability of internet even in remote parts of the world has made Social Media a virtual public sphere enabling e-democracy.
Table of Contents
1.Introduction
2.Politics and Communication
3. Origin and History of Political Communication
4. Theoretical Framework
4.1 Public Sphere
4.2 Agenda Setting
5. Methodology
6. Types of Political Communication
7. Elements of Political Communication
7.1 Ideology
7.2 Propaganda
7.3 Persuasion
8. Political Public Relations
9. Political Advertising and Marketing
10. Political Spin doctoring
11. Origin and growth of social media
12. Impact of Social Media
12.1 Social Media and Political Campaigning
12.2 Social Media and Political Advertising
12.3 Social Media and Political Public Relations
12.4 Social Media and Political Agenda Setting
12.5 Social Media as the New Political Public Sphere
13. Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This paper explores the transformative role of social media as a primary tool for contemporary political communication. It investigates how political actors utilize digital platforms for campaigning, advertising, and public relations, while examining the shift from traditional mass media communication to an interactive, personal engagement model that shapes the modern political landscape.
- The evolution of political communication from the World Wars to the digital era.
- Theoretical foundations of political discourse, including Public Sphere and Agenda Setting.
- Strategic use of social media in political campaigning and political marketing.
- The impact of "spin doctoring" and propaganda in modern democratic societies.
- Challenges to digital political communication, such as the digital divide and trust issues.
Excerpt from the Book
1.Introduction
The ubiquitous presence of social media has taken control of contemporary human life in almost all its aspects. This is all the more perplexing since the social media has been here only for a decade or so. It won’t be an exaggeration to state that social media has ushered in the biggest media revolution since the invention of the printing press. Being very much aware of the omnipresence of the social media the political class as a whole and individual leaders and candidates for various political posts have taken to the social media in a big way. This was exemplified dramatically with Barack Obama’s effective use of it in the 2008 US Presidential elections.
From then on there has been no looking back both for politicians and voters as far as the use of social media as a tool of political communication. By using the social media as a campaign tool Obama was able to capture the imaginations especially of the youth both in the US and abroad. Naturally, the youth turned out to be the biggest chunk of supporters and voters for Obama’s social media refrain: “Change we can”. The social media momentum as a tool for political communication was kept up all through the four years of Obama’s term of office and used it even more vigourously and effectively in the 2012 US election.
Summary of Chapters
1.Introduction: Outlines the rapid rise of social media as a revolutionary tool for political campaigning, exemplified by recent US and Indian elections.
2.Politics and Communication: Defines the core concepts of politics as a decision-making process and communication as the exchange of political messages.
3. Origin and History of Political Communication: Tracks the development of political communication as an academic field from early propaganda studies through the television age to the internet era.
4. Theoretical Framework: Examines Habermas' concept of the public sphere and the Agenda Setting theory in the context of digital media.
5. Methodology: Describes the descriptive-explanatory approach used to analyze social media's role in modern politics.
6. Types of Political Communication: Categorizes political interaction into secret, private, public, horizontal, and vertical forms.
7. Elements of Political Communication: Explains ideology, propaganda, and persuasion as the three pillars of political messaging.
8. Political Public Relations: Analyzes the deliberate efforts by political actors to manage their image and maintain influence.
9. Political Advertising and Marketing: Discusses the commodification of politics and the usage of consumer-oriented strategies in campaigns.
10. Political Spin doctoring: Addresses the manipulative techniques used by political actors to influence news coverage.
11. Origin and growth of social media: Provides a historical overview of communication technology evolution from the telegraph to modern social networking sites.
12. Impact of Social Media: Details how social media functions as a campaigning, advertising, and agenda-setting instrument, effectively becoming a new public sphere.
13. Conclusion: Summarizes the shift back to an interpersonal, trust-based model of political communication and acknowledges the limitations posed by the digital divide.
Keywords
Social Media, Political Communication, Public Relations, Advertising, Political campaign, Propaganda, Persuasion, Agenda Setting, Public Sphere, e-democracy, Spin doctoring, Digital divide, Political Marketing, Obama, Internet.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on the role of social media as a transformative tool in contemporary political communication and its influence on the political process.
Which theoretical frameworks are applied to understand social media in politics?
The work utilizes Jürgen Habermas’ concept of the "Public Sphere" and the "Agenda Setting" theory developed by McCombs and Shaw.
What are the three main elements of political communication identified in the study?
The three main elements identified are ideology, propaganda, and persuasion.
How is the methodology of this study defined?
The study employs a descriptive-explanatory methodology to describe how social media functions as an effective tool for political communication.
How has political campaigning changed with the advent of social media?
Campaigning has moved from traditional mass media dependence to an "always-on" permanent campaigning model characterized by personal engagement and interactivity.
What is the significance of the "digital divide" mentioned in the text?
The digital divide limits the effectiveness of social media as an inclusive tool for political communication, as it excludes those without internet access.
How do "spin doctors" influence political news?
Spin doctors influence news by creating manipulative relationships with journalists and producers of pseudo-events to promote favorable narratives.
What is the "hybrid public sphere" according to this paper?
It refers to the convergence and interaction between traditional mass media and social media, creating a new space for political debate and opinion formation.
- Quote paper
- Prof. Francis Arackal Thummy (Author), 2015, Social Media as a Tool of Political Communication, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/513240
