The Significance of Politics to Social Media

This research paper explores the impact of politics on social media and the regulations that govern it. It discusses the significance of politics in providing a conducive environment for journalists and social media users, as well as the role of politicians in protecting journalists and media house owners. The paper also offers a personal opinion on the relationship between politics and social media.

Running head: COMMUNICATION
Communication
Name
ID
Course
Unit
Lecturer
Date

2
COMMUNICATION
Introduction
The role of the research paper is to elaborate on specific based on the findings of the
researcher. During class discussion, members of the class covered various topics which include
PR journalism, regulation, politics, and marketing. In this last assignment, it will narrow down to
the topic of politics and research on it based on various requirements. The first step in coming up
with this research is to identify one scholarly book and a journal article. Secondly, it will provide
summaries what the journal and the academic book talks about concerning politics. After that,
the solution will research the significance of politics to social media. Lastly, it will give a
personal opinion about the issue, politics and the impact of politics on social media.
Politics
What the journal article and the scholarly book talks about concerning politics.
Bender, (2017) say that, politics refers to the method in which people living together
come up with various. A nation may comprise of people from different tribes and have a
different culture. However, the significant issue is that these people should live together as
members of one country. When people live together, they must agree on various matters
affecting their country. The process of accepting and disagreeing on multiple issues relating to
the nation is what is called politics.
Consequently, members of the nation may be many and sometimes time to agree on the
matters is limited. In such occasion, the country may elect or select specific people to decide for
them beginning from the grassroots to the national level according to Bode, (2016). These
representatives are called politicians. The method of choosing or electing these representatives

3
COMMUNICATION
differ from one nation to another. Many countries have adopted election process whereby the
people who are interested in the position come out with their manifestos and sell them to the
citizens. The citizens have the opportunity to listen to the contestant’s views and decide the
suitable person to represent them in a specific position. After the election, the body conducting
the poll announce the results and the winners form the government. The government will now be
responsible for addressing various issues facing the citizens regarding health, economy,
education among other sectors in reference to Trottier & Fuchs, (2014).
On the other hand, Perrin, (2015) claims that the decisions that politicians make every
day affect the nation negatively and positively. For instance, the authority can make decisions on
the health sector to have the citizens have universal health care without considering the cost
hence forcing the citizens to struggle to accommodate the policy in reference to Highfield,
(2017). On the positive side, the government may agree to come up with a subsidized education
system which will enable the less fortunate members of the society to access education according
to Curran, Fenton & Freedman, (2016). The form of government differs from one country
another; some countries use the presidential system while others adopt kingship. Apart from that,
another important factor in politics is political parties. A political party is a group of people
having similar ideologies, and they have come together to transform the nation through their
doctrines. Political parties mainly exist in democratic government whereby one is free to move
out of the government is the authority is not running the government the way he or she expects.
The significance of politics to social media
The primary reason why people engage in politics is to express their thoughts concerning
various issues in the community and at the end of the day come up with a conclusion that helps
every member of the society. However, the politicians are the one who takes part in these debates

4
COMMUNICATION
while in parliament — the decision that the majority agree on forms the rule. These rules affect
all the sectors. Consequently, social media is one of the industries that is affected by the
regulations. There are different ways in which politic impact social media. One of the primary
significance of politics to social media is that the laws the politicians come up with providing a
conducive environment for journalist and other social media users for working peacefully
according to Hartley, (2017). For instance, when the social media industry started operating,
their freedom was limited to what they cover and how they operate. However, as time goes, the
politicians began fighting for the journalist to get their freedom. The role of media is to inform
the citizens what is going on in the government and how citizens should give their ideas to
ensure that they also have their say within the laws. However, when they have their freedom
snatched, they may not operate efficiently. Politics contribute to the achievement of the
independence of journalists.
Apart from the above impact, Bonilla & Rosa, (2015) argues that another impact of
politics on social media is that the rules that politicians come up with regulate what anyone can
post on social media thus the bad image of social. There are instances where people post weird
things- for example, things relating to terrorist activities, pornographic pictures, images of
severely injured people among others. Such materials make people judge social media as the
source of problems facing youths in society such as early pregnancies, prostitution, and
terrorism. However, the politicians help in a way that they come up with various laws that
regulate what people do and post on social media. The people who go against the regulation face
the full wrath of the law. Hence bringing some level of moral and responsibility to the nation.
The other crucial significance of politics to social media is protecting journalist and media house
owners from abuse by the public and other private sectors. In many years ago, the journalist has

5
COMMUNICATION
been facing several violations from the public and the police while they are rendering their duty.
In many countries there exist many cases in court whereby the journalist was attacked and
injured while covering an important event. These people are hurt because they lack security, they
releasing some information to the public because of the risk of being attacked by the public. The
role of the politicians is to come up with the law that ensures that a journalist has security while
reporting in various places according to Newman, (2017). There is also the issue of tax that the
media owners pay to the government. However, the politicians elected by the citizens are the
once that regulate the amount they spend. They always consider the environment before
determining the amount the media house will pay.
Personal opinion concerning politics and social media.
Politics around the world have evolved. Members of the society give their views now and
then to the leaders who represent them in higher levels. However, in my personal opinion, the
level of representation in most cases is not appropriate. Many leaders have turned political
positions to be an exploiting opportunity. After they rise to power, they look public property and
do not give their views concerning the problems facing ordinary citizens according to Bruns,
Enli, Skogerbo, Larsson & Christensen, (2015). On the other side what interferes with politics is
the issue of political parties. Many leaders whom the citizens trust, form their political parties
and determine who will be in which political position. For example, if a political party is
accessible in a given area, many people struggle to get the certificate from that party to the extent
of giving out a huge sum of money to the party leaders to secure the position. However, the
challenge always comes when the person has achieved the dream of representing people in that
position. Graber & Dunaway, (2017) says that the leader turns away from the people and only
serve the interest of the party. Such circumstance is a betrayal to the ordinary citizens. My

6
COMMUNICATION
opinion is that leaders should not use the citizens as their voting machines but aim at effectively
representing the people. By representation, it means that the leader should continuously listen to
what the citizens are saying and forwarding the opinions to the national level. Many leaders do
not secure a second term during many election periods because they failed to address what the
citizens expected them to send in their previous term.
Chadwick, (2017) argues that social media and politics go hand in hand. Politics defines
how social media operates. However, the relationship between politics and social media have
evolved. In a democratic nation, the association has continued to grow stronger due to the
flexibility of the authority. For example, in some countries, media were not allowed to access
administrative buildings to report what is going on in the premises during the debate.
Consequently, several leaders have agitated for the rights and freedom of the media, up to
now the citizens are getting live updates from the parliamentary buildings. The media expose
those leaders who are not contributing to the debates in the parliament. Apart from that, they
reveal the leaders who perpetrate corruption and hatred within the government and nation at
large.
Conclusion
Media and politics influence each other. The politicians need social media to tell people
what they are planning to do. On the other side, media need politicians to debate on laws that
with making the working environment-friendly. What matters in politics is that citizens should
be careful while electing leaders to represent them while discussing national issues. Some leaders
take advantage that many people live below level and entice them with money to get to the
political positions.

7
COMMUNICATION
References
Bender, B. (2017). Social Media and Politics: The 2016 US Presidential
Election. Pridobljeno, 20(5), 2018.
Bode, L. (2016). Political news in the news feed: Learning politics from social media. Mass
Communication and Society, 19(1), 24-48.
Bonilla, Y., & Rosa, J. (2015). # Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial
politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist, 42(1), 4-17.
Bruns, A., Enli, G., Skogerbo, E., Larsson, A. O., & Christensen, C. (Eds.). (2015). The
Routledge companion to social media and politics. Routledge.
Chadwick, A. (2017). The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford University Press.
Curran, J., Fenton, N., & Freedman, D. (2016). Misunderstanding the internet. Routledge.
Graber, D. A., & Dunaway, J. (2017). Mass media and American politics. Cq Press.
Hartley, J. (2017). The Politics of Pictures: the creation of the public in the age of the popular
media. Routledge.
Highfield, T. (2017). Social media and everyday politics. John Wiley & Sons.
Newman, T. P. (2017). Tracking the release of IPCC AR5 on Twitter: Users, comments, and
sources following the release of the Working Group I Summary for Policymakers. Public
Understanding of Science, 26(7), 815-825.
Perrin, A. (2015). Social media usage. Pew research center, 52-68.

8
COMMUNICATION
Trottier, D., & Fuchs, C. (Eds.). (2014). Social media, politics and the state: Protests,
revolutions, riots, crime and policing in the age of facebook, twitter and youtube (Vol.
16). Routledge.