Social Media's Influence on Politics

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON POLITICS
SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON POLITICS
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SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON POLITICS
Social Media’s Influence on Politics
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of social media on politics. The
paper will first analyze the emergence of social media and the way it replaced all other forms of
media to become the most dominant form. The social media phenomenon shall be discussed in
details at first. Then, the paper will discuss the scenario of politics before the advent and
emergence of the social media. Lastly, the paper will analyze the influence of social media on
politics with special focus on Canadian politics.
It is important first to understand the term ‘social media’ in the context of modern
communication technologies prior to explaining its influence. In the days that preceded the
internet, social media included telegraph communications that emerged in the later part of the
19th century. However, with the introduction of the internet during the 20th century, it achieved a
different meaning. Social media came to be known as a form of communication that is done
online by people, communities and groups creating networks. Social media emerged during the
early years of the 21st century when other forms of media especially the broadcast were at its
peak. Television was the ultimate platform that was utilized by every field to ensure maximum
performance and result. The broadcast media had dominated every household. The political,
cultural and economic discourse during that period used to take place in the television and radio
platforms. The main thesis of the paper is to argue that social media’s influence on politics has
been both positive and negative, for the politicians as well as the citizens.
The social media phenomenon

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SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON POLITICS
In a quick time, social media has become the all-powerful platform for not just
communicating but marketing and networking as well. Although many forms of social media
were there in the previous centuries as well, as mentioned above, the actual form that is
dominating today could be traced back to the emergence of the internet. The internet emerged
during the 1980s and 1990s and quickly led to the development of various communication
platforms. GeoCities, Classmates and Six Degrees were amongst the first known social
networking site that developed in the 1990s (Cbsnews.com, 2019). However, Six Degrees is
credited as the first social networking site because it included friends list, profiles, and school
affiliations that some registered users could use. This created the phenomenon that would later
go on to become the ultimate platform for all kinds of activities. With the turn of the 21st century,
sites like Ryze, Friendster, LinkedIn, hi5, MySpace, Orkut, Facebook and Twitter were
introduced that changed the social media landscape forever (Cbsnews.com, 2019). The
introduction of blogs also added to the phenomenon. Orkut was the first social networking site
that received immense popularity especially amongst the youth. However, Facebook went on to
become the ultimate player in the end. The site changed the meaning of social networking with
innumerable other features being included and opportunities being provided to people
(Cbsnews.com, 2019).
The social media phenomenon was at its full swing with people having the opportunity to
connect not only with others from around the globe but also with their long lost friends. Mark
Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, became the youngest billionaire thanks to the immense
popularity of the site. His company became the most sought after company by businesses across
the world, by politicians, entrepreneurs, NGOs, and many such. The site became an instant hit
amongst the youth even with its limited features initially. The phenomenon began to rise as new

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SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON POLITICS
features began to be added and the numbers started increasing with each day. The site was no
longer confined to a particular age group as people of all ages began to take interest in it.
Speaking about the popularity of the social networking site, Lim et al. (2015) stated that the site
has become a lifeline to most of the people especially the young adults. After Facebook, the
micro-blogging site Twitter attracted much attention. This micro-blogging site was the perfect
tool for those belonging to the ‘celebrity’ category to communicate with their fans and other
people. The site was popular amongst the celebrities because it provided the opportunity to
express or share something without spending much time on it. In the views of Wagner, Vollmar
and Wagner (2014) Twitter’s popularity increased because it was used by people who mattered
and their ‘tweets’ became the credible source o information. based on an article published in The
Guardian, it could be stated that Twitter’s popularity only grew with time and never went down
even in the presence of the giant like Facebook (Addley, 2019). The report stated that in 2008,
maximum articles that appeared in the national and local newspapers in Britain had the mention
of Twitter.
Canada too was equally influenced by the social media phenomenon. According to a
recent data, Canada boasts of around 22.69 million social network users as of 2017 (Facts, 2019).
Amongst the social media sites, Facebook is the most preferred choice of communication with
84% Canadians opting for this site (Facts, 2019). The phenomenon has been described as a
revolution changing the landscape of the entire world, be it any field. In the present generation, it
has become the most influential tool by which even the common people could raise their voice
that too by being anonymous. Anonymity is one of the biggest advantages of the social media
that has contributed to it being such a huge phenomenon; note Xenos, Vromen and Loader
(2014). Those who were previously subjugated because of their inability to speak aloud, found a