Question

Is Social Media Becoming the Most Powerful Force in Global Politics?”

Your initial post should be at least 250 words

Answer 1

I think social media is indeed becoming the most powerful force in global politics.

If politics is all about understanding the sentiments, opinions, etc. of the general public, influencing the same to meet a particular political agenda and using the same to take an appropriate political move, then there is no better place than the social media to do that. Social media has provided a platform to citizens across the world to express their view; share their opinions, likes, dislikes; and share their take on various social and political issues, etc. Therefore, social media help politicians, political parties, campaign organizers, political strategists, etc. with enough data and information on how people are thinking on certain political issues and what is the general sentiment of people on various political parties, candidates, and issues.

Moreover, social media is a very potent platform for political leaders, parties, and campaigner to connect to citizens, create awareness, influence their opinion and mobilize people to fulfill a particular agenda. We can observe these in some recent political events like Brexit and the Presidential election in the United States. On Brexit, citizens actively shared their opinions and their take on the various repercussions of staying in or leaving the EU. This helped political leaders on both sides to make appropriate political moves. The leaders in both sides actively campaigned using the social media to push their agenda. Similarly, in the recent American Presidential election, leaders from both Republican and Democrats actively campaigned using the social media.

Moreover, as the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica case came to light, various political strategists are using social media data to profile voters and influence them through targeted messages to influence election results and political events. So, clearly, social media has come out to be the most powerful force in Global Politics.