Social Media in Politics Sam Shaffer, Zach Vega, Cally Peterson, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Social Media in Politics

Sam Shaffer, Zach Vega, Cally Peterson, Tristan Torres

Types of Social Media

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Snapchat
• Instagram
• Youtube

Facebook

Number of Facebook users by age in the U.S. as of January 2018 (in millions)

• 214 Million active

users

• Most popular social

media platform worldwide

(Statista, 2018, pp. 1).

Twitter

Number of monthly active Twitter users worldwide from 1st quarter 2010 to 4th quarter 2017 (in millions)

• 280 character count
• Photos, videos,

direct messages

(Statista, 2017, pp. 1).

Snapchat

Number of daily active Snapchat users from 1st quarter 2014 to 4th quarter 2017 (in millions)

• Almost ⅓ of users are aged

18-24

• 10 billion mobile videos per

day

(Statista, 2017, pp. 1).

Instagram

Number of monthly active Instagram users from January 2013 to September 2017 (in millions)

• Edit/share photos and

videos

• Half of user base is

between ages 18-29

(Statista, 2017, pp. 1).

Politics

Definition: the activities associated with

the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

Current President: Donald Trump

TEDTalk Comments

https://www.ted.com/talks/ gretchen_carlson_david_brooks_political_common_g round_in_a_polarized_united_states/discussion

• (31:48) “The prevalence of social media and

individualized content”

(Carlson, Brooks, Anderson, 2017)

Primary Research - Survey

Survey Cont’d

Primary Research - Interview

Interview conducted with Aaron Lattanzi SU Graduate student studying Political Science

• “President Trump definetly uses social media platforms like Twitter to change the

discussion in the media… he draws on points Republicans are doing well in rather than addressing negative events”

• “In terms of getting my news everyday, I always go to social media first. It is a great way

to not only get an overview of what is going on but also allows for news from multiple sources…”

• “Twitter has become an important way for the President to go public”

(Lattanzi, Aaron, personal communication, April 3, 2018).

Marketing on Social Media

• Becoming a much larger part of business’s marketing

department

• Millions of people visit social media by the day
• Brands began realizing it is much cheaper
• Differs by platform

(Lyfe Marketing, 2018, pp. 1)

Marketing on Social Media

• It is important to know your users
• Also important to know what platform people will

actually view your advertisement

• Instagram has highest interactions per post per 1000

followers

(thenextweb.com, 2018, pp.1)

Marketing on Social Media

• Knowing how viewers will respond helps
• Finding a niche
• Pit Viper
• Wendys

(spoutsocial.com/index, 2017, pp. 1)

Social Media & Academics

Negative Aspects:

• Socioeconomic factor
• Is social media too distracting?
• Consumption vs. Contribution

Positive Aspects:

• Academic and social integration
• Can encourage discussion &

engagement

• Creates audience

“Studies suggest that Gen Y actively contributes content, creating and mashing (i.e. combining of content from multiple sources); that they gravitate toward social media sites where they can participate (Dye, 2007); and that they prefer to stay connected and multitask through technology (Rawlins et al., 2008).” (Bolton, Parasuraman,

Hoefnagels, Migchels, Kabadayi, Gruber, Loureiro, & Solnet, 2013).

Examples of Social Media in Classrooms

(The Use of Social Media in School Infographic, 2013).

Social Media and Mental Health

Negatives

• Body image/making comparisons (Focusing on likes)
• Sleeping problems (Depression)
• Feeling of being accepted (Cyberbullying)
• Fake friends (Lack of privacy)
• Less face time (Social interaction)

Positives

• Teens need socialization (Easy/immediate)
• Teens in marginalized groups find support (Isolation/finding

support)

“...small study of teens ages 13-18 from the UCLA Brain Mapping Center found that receiving a high number of likes on photos showed increased activity in the reward center of the brain. Further, teens are influenced to like photos, regardless

• f content, based on high numbers of
• likes. Bottom line: It feels good to be

“liked” and herd mentality is big on social media. Like what others like and you’re in.” (Katie Hurley, 2018, p. 1)

Facebook’s Studies on Mental Health

• Users who read information but not interacting with others

reported to feel worse than those who read information on the site and interact with others

• College students chosen to only read Facebook for 10

minutes were in a worse mood at the end of the day than those who read and posted messages or communicated with friends

• Found that individuals who “liked” twice as many posts than

average users reported for worse mental health

It said such problems may arise because mobile phones have redefined relationships, creating a state of people being “alone together.” (Moira Burke, 2017, pg.2)

Psychology and Social Media

• Personality effects

○ Positively related: Extraversion, openness to new experiences ○ Negatively related: Emotional stability

• Social media influences our perceptions which influences the way we view politics

○ Mere Exposure Effect ○ Dunning Kruger Effect ○ Blind Spot Bias ○ Groupthink ○ Anchoring Effect ○ Authority bias

Cambridge Analytica

• Used personality in order to influence voters
• Used apps to access FaceBook profiles

Why is This Relevant?

• It is directly related to digital literacy
• To understand what is truly going on in the world, it is important to

know what you are reading and if it is a credible source

Kahoot

https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=0d8adc03-7ac3-47d2-9f12-015cf8c46e0b

Questions?

Citations

Ruth N. Bolton, A. Parasuraman, Ankie Hoefnagels, Nanne Migchels, Sertan Kabadayi, Thorsten Gruber, Yuliya Komarova Loureiro, David Solnet, (2013) "Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and research agenda", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 24 Issue: 3, pp.245-267, Retreved from https://doi.org/10.1108/09564231311326987 Anna, June. (2011, April 26). The effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and academic development: Current theories and controversies. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21540

Chen, B., Bryer, T. (January 2012). Investigating Instructional Strategies for Using Social Media in Formal and Informal Learning. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1027/2073?utm_campaign=elearningindustry.com&utm_source=/ 10-tips-to-effectively-use-social-media-in-formal-learning&utm_medium=link.