This document provides an introduction and outline for a research project on the impact of social media on politics. It discusses key topics that will be covered in the literature review and case study sections, including why politicians use social media, what platforms they should use, legal issues, and controversies on social media. The introduction defines social media and outlines its functions. It explains the general importance of studying this area and the current gaps in understanding how social media provides new ways for citizen engagement and how politicians have adopted social media strategies. The outline lists 9 chapters that will analyze the role of social media in collective action and politics through a literature review and case studies examining politicians' social media use.
Online media usage for political campaigningThomas Euler
This document provides an abstract for a report investigating the usage of online media for political campaigns in the 2008 US elections. The report analyzes data from two post-election surveys to identify the mindset of political social media users, predict their usage of different online channels, and understand the role of social media in influencing citizens' decisions to volunteer for a campaign. The report aims to develop an understanding of how the internet and social media influence political campaigning and the implications for public relations involved in political campaigns. It recommends topics for future research.
Survey of data mining techniques for socialFiras Husseini
This document summarizes data mining techniques that have been used for social network analysis. It discusses how social networks generate massive amounts of data that present computational challenges due to their size, noise, and dynamism. It then reviews both traditional and recent unsupervised, semi-supervised, and supervised data mining techniques that have been applied to social network analysis to handle these challenges and discover useful knowledge from social network data, including graph theoretic techniques, tools for analyzing opinions and sentiment, and techniques for topic detection and tracking.
This document provides an introduction and literature review for a research project analyzing the influence of social media on the 2008 and 2012 US presidential campaigns. It begins with an introduction that outlines the research questions and comparative qualitative methodology. The literature review then discusses theories on the role of media in elections, the impact of new technologies like television, and the emergence of social media platforms. It argues that social media expanded the public sphere online and became an important campaign tool, especially for Barack Obama in 2008. The research will examine the role of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in storytelling, organizing, and maintaining political engagement in both election cycles.
1. The document discusses the potential uses of social media analytics in local government. It identifies four main purposes: communication, public relations, customer services, and public consultation/engagement.
2. It details a research project with two UK city councils that included a workshop introducing social media analytics tools and interviews. The workshop aimed to demonstrate tools and generate reflection on their value.
3. Interview findings suggested analytics could provide insights supplementing existing knowledge of public networks and discussions. Tools were seen as potentially valuable across different council departments.
This document analyzes emerging trends on Twitter to better understand how they can be characterized. It develops a taxonomy of trends from a large Twitter dataset within a specific geographic area. It identifies key dimensions to categorize trends, such as social network features, time signatures, and textual features. Analyzing these computed features across categories reveals significant differences that advance the understanding of trends on Twitter and how they can be used for applications serving local communities.
The Impact of Social Media (Facebook/YouTube) on the Politically Interest of ...journal ijrtem
Abstract : This work which is entitled “The Impact of Social Media (Facebook/YouTube) on the Political Opinions of Syrians” aimed to report on survey research conducted, which identify the roles that played by the social electronic communication tools as Facebook and YouTube among the Syrian students at the Girne American University (GAU) politically. Moreover, this study aims to answer the following three questions: What impact do Facebook and YouTube have on the Syrian students at the Girne American University (GAU) politically, and what shape does this impact take. Also, dependence of Syrian students on these networks in reading the news. Also, this work has interviewed most of the Syrian students through the survey. This study, demonstrates the appeal that social media can have both positive and negative points in the Syrian students at the University. Keywords: Syria, Facebook, YouTube, Politics, Electronic Communication
How does fakenews spread understanding pathways of disinformation spread thro...Araz Taeihagh
What are the pathways for spreading disinformation on social media platforms? This article addresses this question by collecting, categorising, and situating an extensive body of research on how application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by social media platforms facilitate the spread of disinformation. We first examine the landscape of official social media APIs, then perform quantitative research on the open-source code repositories GitHub and GitLab to understand the usage patterns of these APIs. By inspecting the code repositories, we classify developers' usage of the APIs as official and unofficial, and further develop a four-stage framework characterising pathways for spreading disinformation on social media platforms. We further highlight how the stages in the framework were activated during the 2016 US Presidential Elections, before providing policy recommendations for issues relating to access to APIs, algorithmic content, advertisements, and suggest rapid response to coordinate campaigns, development of collaborative, and participatory approaches as well as government stewardship in the regulation of social media platforms.
From Broadcast to Netcast - PhD Thesis - Bonchek - 1997Mark Bonchek
This dissertation examines how the Internet is altering the flow of political information in the United States. It hypothesizes that the Internet is shifting communication from a "broadcast structure," where information flows unidirectionally from organizations to the public via intermediaries like the press, to a "netcast structure" with an omnidirectional flow that bypasses intermediaries. Case studies and an online survey are used to test the hypothesis and 10 effects on political agents and participation. The findings contribute to literature on political communication, diffusion of information, and information flow within governments and political systems.
Online media usage for political campaigningThomas Euler
This document provides an abstract for a report investigating the usage of online media for political campaigns in the 2008 US elections. The report analyzes data from two post-election surveys to identify the mindset of political social media users, predict their usage of different online channels, and understand the role of social media in influencing citizens' decisions to volunteer for a campaign. The report aims to develop an understanding of how the internet and social media influence political campaigning and the implications for public relations involved in political campaigns. It recommends topics for future research.
Survey of data mining techniques for socialFiras Husseini
This document summarizes data mining techniques that have been used for social network analysis. It discusses how social networks generate massive amounts of data that present computational challenges due to their size, noise, and dynamism. It then reviews both traditional and recent unsupervised, semi-supervised, and supervised data mining techniques that have been applied to social network analysis to handle these challenges and discover useful knowledge from social network data, including graph theoretic techniques, tools for analyzing opinions and sentiment, and techniques for topic detection and tracking.
This document provides an introduction and literature review for a research project analyzing the influence of social media on the 2008 and 2012 US presidential campaigns. It begins with an introduction that outlines the research questions and comparative qualitative methodology. The literature review then discusses theories on the role of media in elections, the impact of new technologies like television, and the emergence of social media platforms. It argues that social media expanded the public sphere online and became an important campaign tool, especially for Barack Obama in 2008. The research will examine the role of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in storytelling, organizing, and maintaining political engagement in both election cycles.
1. The document discusses the potential uses of social media analytics in local government. It identifies four main purposes: communication, public relations, customer services, and public consultation/engagement.
2. It details a research project with two UK city councils that included a workshop introducing social media analytics tools and interviews. The workshop aimed to demonstrate tools and generate reflection on their value.
3. Interview findings suggested analytics could provide insights supplementing existing knowledge of public networks and discussions. Tools were seen as potentially valuable across different council departments.
This document analyzes emerging trends on Twitter to better understand how they can be characterized. It develops a taxonomy of trends from a large Twitter dataset within a specific geographic area. It identifies key dimensions to categorize trends, such as social network features, time signatures, and textual features. Analyzing these computed features across categories reveals significant differences that advance the understanding of trends on Twitter and how they can be used for applications serving local communities.
The Impact of Social Media (Facebook/YouTube) on the Politically Interest of ...journal ijrtem
Abstract : This work which is entitled “The Impact of Social Media (Facebook/YouTube) on the Political Opinions of Syrians” aimed to report on survey research conducted, which identify the roles that played by the social electronic communication tools as Facebook and YouTube among the Syrian students at the Girne American University (GAU) politically. Moreover, this study aims to answer the following three questions: What impact do Facebook and YouTube have on the Syrian students at the Girne American University (GAU) politically, and what shape does this impact take. Also, dependence of Syrian students on these networks in reading the news. Also, this work has interviewed most of the Syrian students through the survey. This study, demonstrates the appeal that social media can have both positive and negative points in the Syrian students at the University. Keywords: Syria, Facebook, YouTube, Politics, Electronic Communication
How does fakenews spread understanding pathways of disinformation spread thro...Araz Taeihagh
What are the pathways for spreading disinformation on social media platforms? This article addresses this question by collecting, categorising, and situating an extensive body of research on how application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by social media platforms facilitate the spread of disinformation. We first examine the landscape of official social media APIs, then perform quantitative research on the open-source code repositories GitHub and GitLab to understand the usage patterns of these APIs. By inspecting the code repositories, we classify developers' usage of the APIs as official and unofficial, and further develop a four-stage framework characterising pathways for spreading disinformation on social media platforms. We further highlight how the stages in the framework were activated during the 2016 US Presidential Elections, before providing policy recommendations for issues relating to access to APIs, algorithmic content, advertisements, and suggest rapid response to coordinate campaigns, development of collaborative, and participatory approaches as well as government stewardship in the regulation of social media platforms.
From Broadcast to Netcast - PhD Thesis - Bonchek - 1997Mark Bonchek
This dissertation examines how the Internet is altering the flow of political information in the United States. It hypothesizes that the Internet is shifting communication from a "broadcast structure," where information flows unidirectionally from organizations to the public via intermediaries like the press, to a "netcast structure" with an omnidirectional flow that bypasses intermediaries. Case studies and an online survey are used to test the hypothesis and 10 effects on political agents and participation. The findings contribute to literature on political communication, diffusion of information, and information flow within governments and political systems.
Chung-Jui LAI - Polarization of Political Opinion by News MediaREVULN
In 2016 US election, social media played a vital role in shaping public opinions as expressed by the news media that have created the phenomenon of polarization in the United States. Because social media gave people the ability to follow, share, post, comment below everything, the phenomenon of political opinions being spread easily and quickly on social media by the news agencies is bringing out a significantly polarized populace.
Consequently, it’s very important to understand the language differences on Twitter and figure out how propaganda spread by different political parties that influence or perhaps mislead public opinion. This talk will introduce the relationship among the social media, public opinion, and news media, then suggests the method to collect the tweets from Twitter and conduct sentimental and logistic regression analysis on them. Furthermore, this talk points out the special aspect on the relationship between the polarization and the topic of this conference (fake news, disinformation and propaganda).
Main points:
- situation in Taiwan
- research on fake news
- methods for fighting fake news
To use Twitter to its fullest potential for public communications, emergency management, and other functions, law enforcement agencies must first understand the medium -- not only how
citizens use it, but also how their peers use it both officially and unofficially. This study, a survey of 1,089 police and police-related Twitter accounts, used 25 different criteria to show how agencies and officers are using Twitter, where they can improve, and implications for their future use.
User behavior model & recommendation on basis of social networks Shah Alam Sabuj
At present social networks play an important role to express people's sentiment and interest in a particular field. Extracting a user's public social network data (what the user shares with friends and relatives and how the user reacts over others' thought) means extracting the user's behavior. Defining some determined hypothesis if we make machine understand human sentiment and interest, it is possible to recommend a user about his/her personal interest on basis of the user's sentiment analyzed by machine. Our main approach is to suggest a user regarding the user's specific interest that is anticipated by analyzing the user's public data. This can be extended to further business analysis to suggest products or services of different companies depending on the consumer's personal choice. This automation will also help to choose the correct candidate for any questionnaire. This system will also help anyone to know about himself or herself, how one's behavior may influence others. It is possible to identify different types of people such as- dependable people, leadership skilled, people of supportive mentality, people of negative mentality etc.
Leveraging European Union Policy Community Through Advanced Exploitation...Yannis Charalabidis
This document proposes a novel approach for social media exploitation by governments that focuses on leveraging policy networks rather than the general public. It involves focusing on knowledgeable experts through reputation management, curating relevant policy documents, and utilizing advanced visualizations. This targeted approach aims to provide more in-depth and elaborate information to support policymaking compared to previous generations that targeted broader audiences. The approach is being evaluated in pilot applications within the EU-Community project to assess its value in assisting EU institutions and policy stakeholders.
POSITIONING OF THE NEW MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION: EMPIRICAL STUD...IAEME Publication
The social networks occupy a major place in the new technologies of information and communication. Beyond their weight ceaselessly increasing in the society, they became strategic supports as well for the individuals as for the organizations. With the social networks, a real revolution upsets in a radical way the ecosystem of the media and of the communication in our societies. Internet and the social media have individualized and democratized the access to real time diffusable contents in the global scale. Today, the consumers of information are also producers of information and can enter in competition with the traditional editors and broadcasting stations, the brands, the public authorities.
Recommending Communities at the Regional and City LevelJohn Verostek
An exploratory study analyzed Meetup groups in Boston, Silicon Valley, and New York City to understand differences in their technology and business community ecosystems. Machine learning was used to categorize groups, which found that Boston had more programming language groups while New York had stronger business networking groups. Social network analysis identified central groups in each city. Comparisons across cities found similar but not identical group types. Member interests were also analyzed to identify recommendations for new groups. The goal was to develop a system to recommend new or related groups to improve regional community landscapes.
Ins and Outs of News Twitter as a Real-Time News Analysis ServiceArjumand Younus
Paper approved to Workshop on Visual Interfaces to the Social and Semantic Web, 2011 (VISSW 2011) in conjunction with International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2011) to be held at Stanford University, Palo Alto.
IRJET- Sentiment Analysis using Machine LearningIRJET Journal
This document discusses sentiment analysis of social media posts using machine learning. The authors aim to classify social media posts as having either a political or non-political sentiment. A dictionary of keywords and their sentiments is created to analyze posts. Users can make posts that are then classified, and an admin can hide or delete posts containing harmful keywords. Graphs are generated to analyze the classification of posts as political versus non-political and by sentiment. The accuracy of classification depends on the training data and dictionary.
The document summarizes research mapping the political web in Germany which found that while some traditional media websites received the most links, the structure was only moderately centralized and ensured diversity. It also showed blogs having entered the top sites and different linking patterns between partisan communities, with traditional media receiving the most external attention.
Esvet unit7 subunit1-types of media and its instrumentsaketh
This document discusses best practices for creating effective press releases to promote events. It emphasizes that press releases should have a clear, attention-grabbing title that communicates what the release is about. The first paragraph, or lead, should summarize the most important details in 15-20 words to encourage readers to continue. The body of the release should be 3-4 concise paragraphs providing additional context and background within 300-400 words total.
Impact of social media of electoral process adeoye oludotunDotun Adeoye
This document discusses the impact of social media on electoral processes. It begins by introducing democracy and elections as processes by which leaders are chosen. Social media is described as enabling the free flow of information that can impact views. The problem addressed is determining if social media impacts elections, and if so, whether positively or negatively. The significance is that the study could enlighten stakeholders on how social media can influence voter behavior and be utilized for campaigning. The scope is examining social media's impact through case studies of past elections in major countries.
The media sector in Mexico is dominated by a few large players and does not play a major role in democratizing the country. Digitization has been market-driven, benefiting large commercial broadcasters and excluding community media. While digital technologies have changed media consumption habits, television remains dominant and internet penetration is low. The two largest TV stations, Televisa and TV Azteca, control over 90% of broadcast licenses. Public service media are underfunded and elitist, reaching less than half of households. The internet has enabled new forms of activism but impact is limited by low access. Journalism faces challenges from violence, censorship and economic pressures, and digitization has not improved working conditions. Recent proposals aim to strengthen public
The article analyzes Slovakia's experience with e-engagement of citizens at different levels of government. It finds that while e-government services have grown, engagement of citizens remains relatively low compared to other EU countries. The central e-government portal, Obcan.sk, aims to be a one-stop shop for citizens but still has room for improvement in areas like accessibility and usability. The article also examines social media use by political parties and governments in Slovakia, finding that local governments have adopted social media more than national levels of government. Overall, Slovakia shows progress in e-government but still faces challenges in fully engaging citizens online.
This document summarizes the findings of interviews conducted with senior editors and managers at 12 newspapers and broadcasters across 6 European countries regarding their social media strategies and how they have been impacted by changes to Facebook's algorithm. The key findings are:
1) All news organizations make major investments in social media, seeing it as crucial to traffic, reach, and subscription sales. Their strategies vary based on revenue models, with advertisers focusing on traffic and subscribers on sales.
2) While frustrated by Facebook's limitations, organizations still see it as most important due to traffic, engagement, and impact on subscriptions. They are diversifying but Facebook remains central.
3) Twitter provides reach among elites but limited revenue. Instagram
This document discusses internet politics in Singapore's 2011 general election, the first election where political parties were allowed to use social media. It defines an "internet election" and outlines how political parties and candidates used platforms like Facebook and Twitter during the election. Both pros and cons of internet politics are presented. The pros include greater visibility for opposition parties and enhanced coordination between parties. However, concerns include news being skewed towards opposition and a clash between official and unofficial information online.
POLITICAL OPINION ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS: CASE OF TWITTER AND FACEBOOKIJwest
The 21st century has been characterized by an increased attention to social networks. Nowadays, going 24 hours without getting in touch with them in some way has become difficult. Facebook and Twitter, these social platforms are now part of everyday life. Thus, these social networks have become important sources to be aware of frequently discussed topics or public opinions on a current issue. A lot of people write messages about current events, give their opinion on any topic and discuss social issues more and more.
SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS FOR SENTIMENT ANALYSIS AND EVENT DETECTION IN SMART CI...cscpconf
Smart cities utilize Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors to enhance the quality of the city
services including energy, transportation, health, and much more. They generate massive
volumes of structured and unstructured data on a daily basis. Also, social networks, such as
Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, are becoming a new source of real-time information in smart
cities. Social network users are acting as social sensors. These datasets so large and complex
are difficult to manage with conventional data management tools and methods. To become
valuable, this massive amount of data, known as 'big data,' needs to be processed and
comprehended to hold the promise of supporting a broad range of urban and smart cities
functions, including among others transportation, water, and energy consumption, pollution
surveillance, and smart city governance. In this work, we investigate how social media analytics
help to analyze smart city data collected from various social media sources, such as Twitter and
Facebook, to detect various events taking place in a smart city and identify the importance of
events and concerns of citizens regarding some events. A case scenario analyses the opinions of
users concerning the traffic in three largest cities in the UAE
This document discusses social media use by South Korean government agencies. It notes that 23 out of 32 South Korean ministries opened Twitter accounts in 2010. The government displays high levels of reciprocity on Twitter, with over 70% of agencies having over 80% reciprocal relationships. It also found that having dedicated staff to manage social media accounts was the most important factor in the number of followers an agency had. The document proposes using mixed webometric methods like semantic analysis of tweets and network analysis of online connections to study interactions between Korean government agencies and the public on social media.
Impact of social media of electoral process adeoye oludotunDotun Adeoye
This document discusses the impact of social media on electoral processes. It begins by introducing democracy and elections, noting that elections involve citizens choosing representatives. It then discusses social media and how information spreads rapidly online. The document analyzes several ways social media impacts elections, such as facilitating fundraising, unpaid advertising, feedback/contact with voters, information dissemination, and influencing poll ratings/predictions. It aims to determine if and how social media impacts electoral processes and voter behavior.
The Eugene Emeralds had a successful 2015 season where they broke attendance records and gave back a lot to the local community. Some of the community initiatives included staff participating in the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics and raising over $3,700, the EMazing Reading Program that reached over 15,400 students, and players making 24 community appearances totaling 190 hours. The team also held various theme nights and charity jersey auctions that raised over $18,800 for local charities. In total, the Emeralds donated over $205,000 worth of tickets, suites and merchandise along with over $60,000 in monetary donations to over 150 local organizations in 2015.
HERDEM 360 Meetings bring professionals from different backgrounds together monthly for breakfast or lunch discussions on social, cultural, economic and legal issues. The meetings aim to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking to further economic development. Discussions are led by a host on pre-selected topics. Participation is by invitation only and limited to 12-14 people to encourage focused conversations. The goal is to build community and spark new ideas through exposure to diverse perspectives outside normal professional circles.
Chung-Jui LAI - Polarization of Political Opinion by News MediaREVULN
In 2016 US election, social media played a vital role in shaping public opinions as expressed by the news media that have created the phenomenon of polarization in the United States. Because social media gave people the ability to follow, share, post, comment below everything, the phenomenon of political opinions being spread easily and quickly on social media by the news agencies is bringing out a significantly polarized populace.
Consequently, it’s very important to understand the language differences on Twitter and figure out how propaganda spread by different political parties that influence or perhaps mislead public opinion. This talk will introduce the relationship among the social media, public opinion, and news media, then suggests the method to collect the tweets from Twitter and conduct sentimental and logistic regression analysis on them. Furthermore, this talk points out the special aspect on the relationship between the polarization and the topic of this conference (fake news, disinformation and propaganda).
Main points:
- situation in Taiwan
- research on fake news
- methods for fighting fake news
To use Twitter to its fullest potential for public communications, emergency management, and other functions, law enforcement agencies must first understand the medium -- not only how
citizens use it, but also how their peers use it both officially and unofficially. This study, a survey of 1,089 police and police-related Twitter accounts, used 25 different criteria to show how agencies and officers are using Twitter, where they can improve, and implications for their future use.
User behavior model & recommendation on basis of social networks Shah Alam Sabuj
At present social networks play an important role to express people's sentiment and interest in a particular field. Extracting a user's public social network data (what the user shares with friends and relatives and how the user reacts over others' thought) means extracting the user's behavior. Defining some determined hypothesis if we make machine understand human sentiment and interest, it is possible to recommend a user about his/her personal interest on basis of the user's sentiment analyzed by machine. Our main approach is to suggest a user regarding the user's specific interest that is anticipated by analyzing the user's public data. This can be extended to further business analysis to suggest products or services of different companies depending on the consumer's personal choice. This automation will also help to choose the correct candidate for any questionnaire. This system will also help anyone to know about himself or herself, how one's behavior may influence others. It is possible to identify different types of people such as- dependable people, leadership skilled, people of supportive mentality, people of negative mentality etc.
Leveraging European Union Policy Community Through Advanced Exploitation...Yannis Charalabidis
This document proposes a novel approach for social media exploitation by governments that focuses on leveraging policy networks rather than the general public. It involves focusing on knowledgeable experts through reputation management, curating relevant policy documents, and utilizing advanced visualizations. This targeted approach aims to provide more in-depth and elaborate information to support policymaking compared to previous generations that targeted broader audiences. The approach is being evaluated in pilot applications within the EU-Community project to assess its value in assisting EU institutions and policy stakeholders.
POSITIONING OF THE NEW MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION: EMPIRICAL STUD...IAEME Publication
The social networks occupy a major place in the new technologies of information and communication. Beyond their weight ceaselessly increasing in the society, they became strategic supports as well for the individuals as for the organizations. With the social networks, a real revolution upsets in a radical way the ecosystem of the media and of the communication in our societies. Internet and the social media have individualized and democratized the access to real time diffusable contents in the global scale. Today, the consumers of information are also producers of information and can enter in competition with the traditional editors and broadcasting stations, the brands, the public authorities.
Recommending Communities at the Regional and City LevelJohn Verostek
An exploratory study analyzed Meetup groups in Boston, Silicon Valley, and New York City to understand differences in their technology and business community ecosystems. Machine learning was used to categorize groups, which found that Boston had more programming language groups while New York had stronger business networking groups. Social network analysis identified central groups in each city. Comparisons across cities found similar but not identical group types. Member interests were also analyzed to identify recommendations for new groups. The goal was to develop a system to recommend new or related groups to improve regional community landscapes.
Ins and Outs of News Twitter as a Real-Time News Analysis ServiceArjumand Younus
Paper approved to Workshop on Visual Interfaces to the Social and Semantic Web, 2011 (VISSW 2011) in conjunction with International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2011) to be held at Stanford University, Palo Alto.
IRJET- Sentiment Analysis using Machine LearningIRJET Journal
This document discusses sentiment analysis of social media posts using machine learning. The authors aim to classify social media posts as having either a political or non-political sentiment. A dictionary of keywords and their sentiments is created to analyze posts. Users can make posts that are then classified, and an admin can hide or delete posts containing harmful keywords. Graphs are generated to analyze the classification of posts as political versus non-political and by sentiment. The accuracy of classification depends on the training data and dictionary.
The document summarizes research mapping the political web in Germany which found that while some traditional media websites received the most links, the structure was only moderately centralized and ensured diversity. It also showed blogs having entered the top sites and different linking patterns between partisan communities, with traditional media receiving the most external attention.
Esvet unit7 subunit1-types of media and its instrumentsaketh
This document discusses best practices for creating effective press releases to promote events. It emphasizes that press releases should have a clear, attention-grabbing title that communicates what the release is about. The first paragraph, or lead, should summarize the most important details in 15-20 words to encourage readers to continue. The body of the release should be 3-4 concise paragraphs providing additional context and background within 300-400 words total.
Impact of social media of electoral process adeoye oludotunDotun Adeoye
This document discusses the impact of social media on electoral processes. It begins by introducing democracy and elections as processes by which leaders are chosen. Social media is described as enabling the free flow of information that can impact views. The problem addressed is determining if social media impacts elections, and if so, whether positively or negatively. The significance is that the study could enlighten stakeholders on how social media can influence voter behavior and be utilized for campaigning. The scope is examining social media's impact through case studies of past elections in major countries.
The media sector in Mexico is dominated by a few large players and does not play a major role in democratizing the country. Digitization has been market-driven, benefiting large commercial broadcasters and excluding community media. While digital technologies have changed media consumption habits, television remains dominant and internet penetration is low. The two largest TV stations, Televisa and TV Azteca, control over 90% of broadcast licenses. Public service media are underfunded and elitist, reaching less than half of households. The internet has enabled new forms of activism but impact is limited by low access. Journalism faces challenges from violence, censorship and economic pressures, and digitization has not improved working conditions. Recent proposals aim to strengthen public
The article analyzes Slovakia's experience with e-engagement of citizens at different levels of government. It finds that while e-government services have grown, engagement of citizens remains relatively low compared to other EU countries. The central e-government portal, Obcan.sk, aims to be a one-stop shop for citizens but still has room for improvement in areas like accessibility and usability. The article also examines social media use by political parties and governments in Slovakia, finding that local governments have adopted social media more than national levels of government. Overall, Slovakia shows progress in e-government but still faces challenges in fully engaging citizens online.
This document summarizes the findings of interviews conducted with senior editors and managers at 12 newspapers and broadcasters across 6 European countries regarding their social media strategies and how they have been impacted by changes to Facebook's algorithm. The key findings are:
1) All news organizations make major investments in social media, seeing it as crucial to traffic, reach, and subscription sales. Their strategies vary based on revenue models, with advertisers focusing on traffic and subscribers on sales.
2) While frustrated by Facebook's limitations, organizations still see it as most important due to traffic, engagement, and impact on subscriptions. They are diversifying but Facebook remains central.
3) Twitter provides reach among elites but limited revenue. Instagram
This document discusses internet politics in Singapore's 2011 general election, the first election where political parties were allowed to use social media. It defines an "internet election" and outlines how political parties and candidates used platforms like Facebook and Twitter during the election. Both pros and cons of internet politics are presented. The pros include greater visibility for opposition parties and enhanced coordination between parties. However, concerns include news being skewed towards opposition and a clash between official and unofficial information online.
POLITICAL OPINION ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS: CASE OF TWITTER AND FACEBOOKIJwest
The 21st century has been characterized by an increased attention to social networks. Nowadays, going 24 hours without getting in touch with them in some way has become difficult. Facebook and Twitter, these social platforms are now part of everyday life. Thus, these social networks have become important sources to be aware of frequently discussed topics or public opinions on a current issue. A lot of people write messages about current events, give their opinion on any topic and discuss social issues more and more.
SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS FOR SENTIMENT ANALYSIS AND EVENT DETECTION IN SMART CI...cscpconf
Smart cities utilize Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors to enhance the quality of the city
services including energy, transportation, health, and much more. They generate massive
volumes of structured and unstructured data on a daily basis. Also, social networks, such as
Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, are becoming a new source of real-time information in smart
cities. Social network users are acting as social sensors. These datasets so large and complex
are difficult to manage with conventional data management tools and methods. To become
valuable, this massive amount of data, known as 'big data,' needs to be processed and
comprehended to hold the promise of supporting a broad range of urban and smart cities
functions, including among others transportation, water, and energy consumption, pollution
surveillance, and smart city governance. In this work, we investigate how social media analytics
help to analyze smart city data collected from various social media sources, such as Twitter and
Facebook, to detect various events taking place in a smart city and identify the importance of
events and concerns of citizens regarding some events. A case scenario analyses the opinions of
users concerning the traffic in three largest cities in the UAE
This document discusses social media use by South Korean government agencies. It notes that 23 out of 32 South Korean ministries opened Twitter accounts in 2010. The government displays high levels of reciprocity on Twitter, with over 70% of agencies having over 80% reciprocal relationships. It also found that having dedicated staff to manage social media accounts was the most important factor in the number of followers an agency had. The document proposes using mixed webometric methods like semantic analysis of tweets and network analysis of online connections to study interactions between Korean government agencies and the public on social media.
Impact of social media of electoral process adeoye oludotunDotun Adeoye
This document discusses the impact of social media on electoral processes. It begins by introducing democracy and elections, noting that elections involve citizens choosing representatives. It then discusses social media and how information spreads rapidly online. The document analyzes several ways social media impacts elections, such as facilitating fundraising, unpaid advertising, feedback/contact with voters, information dissemination, and influencing poll ratings/predictions. It aims to determine if and how social media impacts electoral processes and voter behavior.
The Eugene Emeralds had a successful 2015 season where they broke attendance records and gave back a lot to the local community. Some of the community initiatives included staff participating in the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics and raising over $3,700, the EMazing Reading Program that reached over 15,400 students, and players making 24 community appearances totaling 190 hours. The team also held various theme nights and charity jersey auctions that raised over $18,800 for local charities. In total, the Emeralds donated over $205,000 worth of tickets, suites and merchandise along with over $60,000 in monetary donations to over 150 local organizations in 2015.
HERDEM 360 Meetings bring professionals from different backgrounds together monthly for breakfast or lunch discussions on social, cultural, economic and legal issues. The meetings aim to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking to further economic development. Discussions are led by a host on pre-selected topics. Participation is by invitation only and limited to 12-14 people to encourage focused conversations. The goal is to build community and spark new ideas through exposure to diverse perspectives outside normal professional circles.
This document provides key performance metrics for Secular Trade including time bound deliveries and stock accuracy both being at 100%, material handling at 98% and service level agreement at 99%, indicating strong performance across most key areas.
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Institute of Technology Tallaght, Dublin
Department of Computing
Bachelor of Science in I.T. Management
Subject: 3rd
Year ResearchProject
Research topic: Impactof socialmedia on politics
Supervisor: Mary Hendricks
Student Name: Zuluka Toure
Student Number: X00106948
2. Page 2 of 40
Table of Contents
1 - Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
2 - Listof Tables --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
3 - Listof Figures -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
4 - Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
4.0 - Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
4.1 - What isSocial Media------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5-6
4.2 - Functionsof social media ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6
4.3 - General importance of areaof study ---------------------------------------------------------- 6-7
4.4 - Currentstatusand gap understanding -------------------------------------------------------- 7
4.5 - Specificstatementof Objectives --------------------------------------------------------------- 7-8
4.6 - Sequence of taskneededtoachieve result -------------------------------------------------- 8
4.7 - Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
5 – Literature review ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
5.0 - Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
5.1 - Why dopoliticiansuse social media ---------------------------------------------------------- 10-13
5.2 - What social mediashouldapoliticianuse --------------------------------------------------- 13-15
5.3 - Social medialegal issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15-16
5.4 - Political controversyonSocial media --------------------------------------------------------- 16-17
5.5 - Cost of runningsocial media -------------------------------------------------------------------- 17
5.6 - Keyfindingsof the review----------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
5.7 - Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
6 - Case study ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20
6.0 - Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20
6.1 - Researchapproach --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20-21
6.2 - Surveyquestionnaire1--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21-26
6.3 - Surveyquestionnaire2--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26-29
6.4 - Testingsocial mediaplatform ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29-30
6.5 - Some of the keyfinding --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30-31
6.6 - Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32
7 - Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 33
7.0 - Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33-34
7.1 - Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 35
8 - Bibliography&Recommendation ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36-38
9 - Appendices ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39-40
3. Page 3 of 40
List of Tables
Table 1: Data collectiononsocial media
Table 2: TDs usage of social network
Table 3: Social mediaaccount
Table 4: Typesof social media
Table 5: Purpose of social mediausage
Table 6: Social mediaplatforms
Table 7: Age group
4. Page 4 of 40
List of Figures
Figure 1: Social mediafollowers
Figure 2: Accessingsocial media
Figure 3: Last electionvote
Figure 4: Politiciansactivenesson social media
Figure 5: Political followers
Figure 6: Politicianprofile
Figure 7: Social mediaupdates
Figure 8: ContentsonSocial media
Figure 9: Time spentonSocial media
Figure 10: Social mediaguidelines
Figure 11: Political successonSocial media
Figure 12: Social mediafailure
5. Page 5 of 40
Chapter One
Introduction
4.0 Introduction
The development of social media in modern era has changed the way that hundreds of millionsof
people share dataabout themselvesaroundthe globe.Peoplefromall walksof life andfromall over
the worldhave encompassedsocial media. Accordingtoresearch“the firstrecognizablesocial media
site,Six Degrees,wascreatedin1997.Itenableduserstouploadaprofileandmake friendswithother
users. In 1999, the first blogging sites became popular, creating a social media sensation that’s still
popular today” (Hendricks,2013). Today organizations and institutions of all shapes and dimensions
are achieving dramatic benefits by using these tools to reach out to the public. The concept of
individualsgeneratingtheirowncontentonthe internethasbecomeubiquitous.Thishascreatednew
opportunities for politicians to observe, interact and gather information. Many techniques have
alreadybeenestablishedtoinfluence socialmediasuchaspublicpanels,crowd-sourcing,co-creation,
blogminingand webscraping.Howeveritis likelythatmanymore will evolve overthe comingyears
as the internetcontinuestochange. Accordingto Hubert“the use of social mediaintoday’spolitical
campaignisnot onlyimportant –it iscritical”(Jerpi,2012). The goal of thisprojectisto place the role
that social mediaplaysincollective actionwithinamore general political orgovernmental structure.
One cannot understand the role of social media in collective action without first taking into
considerationthe political atmosphere inwhichtheyfunction.The projectwill elaborateonhow does
the evolutionof social mediaprovidenew waystostimulatecitizenengagementinpolitical life?How
manypoliticians have implemented,if notbecomeproficientat,the basisof asocial mediaapproach,
using popular tools to share facts with the public and listen to what citizens are saying.
4.1 What is Social Media?
The bestapproachtooutlinesocial mediaistobreakitintopieces.Massmediaisassociateinstrument
on communicationwhichisasortof a radioor a newspaper,therefore socialmediawouldbe asocial
tool of communication defined as “a term used to describe a variety of Web-based platforms,
applicationsandtechnologiesthatenable peopletosociallyinteractwithone anotheronline”(Beal,
n.d.), these kindof interactionsmaybe aseasyas solicitingforyourcommentsorrental you vote on
a commentary,oritmaybe as advancedasflixsterendorsingmoviestoyousupportedthe evaluations
6. Page 6 of 40
of people withparallelinterest.Whenone thinkof regularmediaasaone way trafficwhereveryou'll
be able to read a newspaper or hear a report on TV, however you have got terribly restricted ability
to relinquishyourthoughtsonthe issues.Social mediaonthe opposite handisa two waytrafficthat
provides you the flexibility to speak too. Examples of social media sites are Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn and many more.
4.2 Functions of social media
Social mediaismeasureof thecompleteformof activityhavingof Internetcommunicationsandonline
interaction. When processes are centred on fast changing content, connecting and distributing, a
workingonline headquarters becomesnecessary,whichneedsthe creationandlookingafterof good
and fascinatingwebsites.Visitorstodifferentwebsitesshouldbe able tovigorouslyfollow whatfirst-
hand content has been circulated on the website without actually using the site. Sharing operations
like Addand Share or RSS feedsofferthese possibilities.Sharingoptionsoftenappearasbuttons on
websites,makingitactual easyforuserstofrontwardthesite’scontent.Numerouswebsitesalsocarry
a Facebook Like button which,whenclicked and recommends site to the clickersown networks. On
the other hand, RSS feeds and keep users up-to-date of site changes and not share this information
with others. (See Appendix A)
4.3 General importance of area of study
The rise in the numberof internetusersleadstoan increase to digital influence onpeople’sopinion
towardsthe political entities,therefore socialmediasiteshavebecomeanimportantadditionalarena
for politics.Theyare a resource forpolitical bulletinandinformation,findingthe same mindedissue-
orientedindividuals,andatool forvoteroutreachin the run-upto elections.The general importance
of the area of study is to address how the politicians uses social networks to increase transparency
and public involvement, what are the budget involve, the technologies and methodologies that
impactedthe social networkonpolitics.“Social Mediahasrapidly growninimportance asaforumfor
political activisminitsdifferentforms.Social mediaplatforms,suchas Twitter,FacebookandYouTube
provide new ways to stimulate citizen engagement in political life, where elections and electoral
campaignshave a central role”(Tenhunen& Karvelyte,2014). The studywill alsoaddress the use of
social mediaas a newinvestigative tool bydefiningthe scope,purpose andvalue of social mediafor
politiciansandtoprovide guidelinesforofficialsmanagingsocialmediachannelswithinpolitical scene,
such that: Politicians are able to take advantage of new opportunities for communication and
7. Page 7 of 40
commitment that social media deliver and the significant of good governance, planning and
management of social media within the overall context of the politics is understood.
4.4 Current status and gap understanding
Social media has altered structures and methodsof contemporary party-political communication by
persuading the way politicians intermingle with citizens and each other. Current status indicate that
“The social media adoption rate continues to grow at a staggering pace as the big four networks –
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+” (Bennett, 2011). The supremacy of social media is such
that,the numberof global usersisprojectedtoreachsome 2.5billionby2018,arounda thirdof entire
worldpopulationwithanestimatedhalf abillionof these usersislikelytobe fromChinaand roughly
a quarterof amillionfromIndia.However,NorthAmericaisthe regionwiththemaximumpenetration
rate of social media, whereas 60 percent of the people has at most one social media profile.
However,the role of thisphenomenoningrowingpolitical commitmentandelectoralparticipationis
neither clear nor simple without adopting the plan or guide to achieve your goal. There’s also some
surprising generation gap data on the differences between adultsand teenagers and the gap in the
age breakdown. Understand the social media nature of each network and best practices in
communication.Whena politicianunderstandsthe social nature of each network,theycan beginto
strategicallyplancontentand get the most value from the general public,“but it’simportantto find
someone that has the strategic business sense, creativity and right skills to manage social efforts”.
(Greve, 2013)
4.5 Specific statement of objectives
The main objectives of the project is to develop an explanatory theory that impact the younger
generation, why politicians use social media, what guidelines exist, cost involved, compare and
contrast the impactof social networksamongpolitical partiesorpoliticiansaswell asfocussingsocial
media guidelines help politician to achieve their aim and the facts associated with the rise of social
networkinpolitics..One of the objectivesistomeasure yoursocialmediaresults,themetricsyouwill
want to track will be based on the political objectives you defined. Knowing your supporters by
engaging with them through the media and understanding their point of view as well as knowing
where your audience engage in social media.
8. Page 8 of 40
These guidelines providesa framework to carry out your social media strategy and implement your
social media tactics. In other to be successful on social media politicians have the responsibility to
adhere to general guidelinesof social media.These guidelinesare intendedtohelppoliticiansfroma
wide range of perspectives, e.g. protecting political status and reduce misperception about dubious
legal and controversial issues andthe implicationsof participationonsocial media.Here are a listof
general guideline:
Be accountable for what you write.
Maintain privacy and confidentiality.
Be trustworthy.
Consider your listeners.
Exercise smart judgement.
Be accurate and transparent.
No Ghost Town
4.6 Sequence of task needed to achieve the result
The planned sequence of the project is to collect data by using one of the online survey software to
gather the insight required to make more notify judgement. On the other hand interview can be
conducted if permitted with local politicians either by phone or personally to also gather some
information.Findingsthe viewsof general publicwithregardstotheiractivitiesinsocial mediawhen
it comes to politics as well as age gap.
Testing one of the most used social network by putting together a political survey questionnaires
online inothertofindoutthe bestresultintermsof political scenario.The datawill thenbe analysing
statisticallybyusingtoolssuchasgraphsandtablestoachieve the resultortomeasure the successof
the project.
9. Page 9 of 40
4.7 Conclusion
The impact of social media on politics is challenging, for a growing number of politicians,uses social
media provide a way of keeping in touch with eligible voters and communities. This chapter has
elaboratedthe evolutionsof social mediaandhow it changedindividualsinthe worldof politics.The
chapteralsotalkedaboutthe general importance of theareaof studyistoaddresshow the politicians
use social networks to increase transparency and public participation,the chapter also talked about
addressingsocial mediaasa newinvestigativetool bydefiningthe scope,purpose andvalue of social
media for politicians and to provide guidelines. Detailed objectives of the project is to research and
identify the facts associated with the rise of social networks in politics, the impact on younger
generation,compareandcontrastthe impactof socialnetworksamongpoliticalpartiesaswell ashow
social mediaguidelineshelppoliticiantoachievetheiraim.The sequence of taskandanalysisneeded
of achievingthe projectresulthasbeendetailedinthischapter.The nextchapterof the projectisto
presentthe literature review whichwill give anaccountof whathas beenpublishedonthe impactof
social mediaon politicsby accreditedscholarsand researchersthat is of general and relevanttothe
research topic.
10. Page 10 of 40
Chapter two
Literature Review
5.0 Introduction
This chapter will judgementally assesses the obtainable literature in and round the research topic
alongside diverse studies that are applied antecedent and are relevant to the current analysis. The
literature in politics helps in giving accounts to the distinctions and variations in social media usage
amongst various ways of politics, however, the Communal hypothesiswithin the literature is that
politicians want to win and later run for another term in office through the use of social media
technology just like political movements who are eager to mobilise as many people as they can
through the use of social network sites.
The studyaimedatconsideringtheimpactsocial mediahasgaininsidethepolitical scene.Socialmedia
has considerably changed the way political information is being accessible and available. Instead of
putting together elementary knowledge of politician from websites as well as news media, social
media users gather information using collaborating sites where there is ongoing communication
amongvotersand politiciansandwhere informationflowsstraightfromthe mouthpoliticiantotheir
voters on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter pages. However every individual politicians
uses social media in the way that will suit their movement.
5.1 Why do politicians use social media?
In recent years, social media are thought to have influence the behaviour on the general public
discourse andcommunicationwithinthe society,particularlysocialmediaare progressivelyutilizedin
political context,significantlyserviceslike LinkedIn,Twitter,Youtube and Facebooksquare measure
believedtoownthe potential forincreasingpoliticalparticipation.Politiciansall roundthe worldfrom
all levels of position engaged in the use of social medial tool in any method they can to attach with
the general public,forexamplethe electionof the UnitedStatesof AmericapresidentBarackObama
in 2008 was with success driven by the presence of Social Media sites.In Canada, “Calgary mayoral
candidate NaheedNenshi who,withlessthan5% supportcatapultedto40% of the popularvote in a
matter of days, due to largely to savvy social media usage”. (Spronsen, 2012)
Here are some of the major reasons why politicians engaged in the use of social media.
11. Page 11 of 40
Connect with supporters - One of the major aim of politicians using social media. Generally, leading
people means linking with them, social media sites become a perfect tool for politician to connect
openly with votersby exploring the varioussocial media available techniques without any charge in
revealing their core values and provide insight of how they will govern and lead. These also allows
candidate tododge the old-fashionedmethodof gettingvoteroverpaidpromotingorearnedmedia.
Accordingto the research“Fine Gael may holda majorityof Dail seats,but SinnFeinis the dominant
partyonsocial mediabyacountrymile” (Jordan,2014),the party(SinnFein)seesocialmediaplatform
asverysignificantwayof connectingtotheirfollowers.The chartbelowshows the difference between
the major parties in Ireland and who connect to supporters most.
Figure 1: Social media followers
Advertising - Politicians also utilises Social Network like to produce a commercial and publish it for
free insteadof payingtoradio,TelevisionandNewspaperfortime used.Thisallowthe commercialto
reach wide audience withoutincurringanycost whatso ever.“Barack Obama has passeda landmark
inpolitical campaigningbyclockingupmore than200mviewsof hisonlinevideoonYouTube” (Michel
& Pilkington,2012).Aspolitical campaignsare movingprogressivelyonline,videoshasbecomeacore
part of theirphilosophyinall stagesof politicsfromtop-down,the measure of viewinghighlightsthe
growing significance of videos in political communication.
Data Collection - Social mediaproducesa remarkable amountof data and informationeveryday.By
usingsocial mediasnoopingtoolsefficiently,acampaigncan assemble awealthof relevantdata and
information concerning those who are following them on social network, number of share content,
numberof tweetandaverage tweetperday as well asnumberof likes.Gatheringavast sum of data
22705
28827
2178283362
18641
Social Media Followers
Fine Gael Labour Party Fianna Fail Sinn Fein Others
12. Page 12 of 40
basedonthe connectionsonsocialmediabyapoliticiancanreallypaintaperfectpicture of whattype
of followera politiciansorpolitical partyhas, more significantly,whatthese followerare lookingfor.
Once thatdata hasbeengatheredandwellanalysed,the politicianscanusedthe dataadvantageously
to improve their social media political strategies in other to gain an edge on their competitors.
Accordingtothe chart above,SinnFeinhasemergedasthe leadingpartyonsocial mediaeventhough
theydonot holdthe majorityseatinthe Dail.“The developmentof social mediainthe lastnumberof
years has provided us with the ideal platform to get our comments and policies in an unfiltered
manner” according to Sinn Fein (Jordan, 2014). The tables below indicate the data activities of the
four major Irish parties collected October 2003-November 2014.
Table 1
Party Likes Talked
about page
New page
likes
Post Avg share per
post
Avg Comment
per post
Fianna Fail 6582 36 24 0 3 7
Fine Gael 8905 207 23 1 22 122
Labour 10,427 78 24 3 1 6
Sinn Fein 54,662 7800 714 10 272 177
Data collected on Facebook activities of the 4 major Irish parties
Feedback - Requesting feedback for comment from followers on social media can be a good factor.
Most common way to collect feedback is through comment from followers to share tips or through
survey. Several campaignsemploystaff toobserve theirsocial mediaaccountsforbothnegative and
positive response andscrub somethinguncomplimentary.Howeversucha bunker-like mentalitywill
builda campaignseemdefensive andclosedremovedfromthe general public. Runningpresent-day
campaigns can have interaction to the general public in spite of whether or not their feedback is
positive or negative. Social media tools also allows the general public to easily come together to
petition the government and their nominatedrepresentatives by using their facts against the effect
of authoritative lobbyists.
For instance Fine Gael TD SimonHarris postrequestingfora feedbackonFacebookafterthe budget
“Hello from Fine Gael HQ. I want to hear your questions on yesterday’s budget” (thejournal, 2014),
this attracted over 2 thousand like and 58 shares.
Fundraising- isalsoone of thereasonwhypoliticianengageinthe useof social media,mostespecially
in the US where all political parties rely on small amount of donations to finance their political
13. Page 13 of 40
objectives by using social network to raise fund toward their political ambition. Barack Obama
changed the aspect of politics during 2008 election campaign by going into social media to organise
followers to increase fund. “By mobilizing a multi-channel campaign that emphasized social media,
[Obama] was able to amass a slew of small donations that overshadowed his competitors and
candidates from the 2004 election in pre-nomination contributions.” (O'Neill, 2012)
5.2 What social media should a politician use?
There are so many social network sites both free and payable with sophiscatedtools also known as
the Web 2.0 tools that developedrapidly with the modern technology. Social network site differs
dependingonthe motive of the user,as in the case of politicians,the mostfamoussocial mediasite
use by politician are, i.e. YouTube, LinkedIn, Flicker, Facebook and Twitter. Social media’s influence
within the broad campaigns and in fact politics in general in the US is indisputable. All of the
contestantsforSenate are vigorouslypresentinone social networkoranotherinthe senate election
2014, carrying out a series of political advertising and promotion actions through these networks
aiming to get nearer to their likely voters. Statistics indicated that “Beyond a doubt, their most
commonly used social network is Twitter. The Little Blue Bird network has been their favourite
showroom window throughout this campaign” (Martinez, 2014). (See Appendix B)
However,accordingtothe researchbyKevinLynchandJohnHogan,“The surveydiscoveredthatwhile
90% of politician felt networking was altering their communications with constituents, 60% believe
face to face communication was critical". (Lynch & Hogan, 2012)The table below revealed the most
popular social media used by TDs with the plan to rise their usage in the future.
Table 2
Social Networking site % Usage 2010 % Future Usage
Facebook 86 96
Twitter 42 65
Blog 35 50
YouTube 11 50
TDs Usage of Social networking site in Ireland in 2010
Facebook - Facebook hasemergedasone of the leadingsocialmediasitesusedbybothpoliticianand
the general public,the siteallowsyoutocreate yourpolitical networkthatisfar-reachingandpermits
14. Page 14 of 40
youto postvideo,photos,sendelaboratedbulkmessagesandmanymore.The site alsoallow youto
collectfeedbackfromdifferentuserswithinthe style of the “Like”button,andgivethe choice tobuild
their own comments. They also have the option of conjointly forwarding the posting to their own
Facebookcontactsusers through the “Share” choice simplybecause Facebooksupportsiscommunal
pagesforcommoninterests.StudyalsoindicateFacebookcontinuetodominate asthe mostcommon
used social media site among the teenagers. (See Appendix C)
Twitter - Twitter is also a free online based social network that excels briefly short message bursts,
event updates, journal post pushes and breaking news. It permits a campaign to instantly send a
summary message to a lot of followers and conjointlylets the campaign move with others in a very
one-on-onemanner.MessagessendonTwitterare generallyknownastweet,ahashtaginsomecases
can be added inother to linkmessagesto messageswhichmakesitmuch simplertokeepan eye on
messages.
However, studies has shownthat Twitter was usedto inspire voting performance as well as political
comments. One of the retweetedmessage and likes in Irishpolitics was by Simon Coveney when he
tweeted about the Taoiseach with regards to an interview. “God, what an uninspiring interview by
Taoiseachthismorning.He soundedhalfwaybetweendrunkandhungoverandtotallydisinterested”
(Siggins, 2010).
YouTube - YouTube is a free online video tool with more than 2 billion visitors every single day, its
reach can’t be takingtoo lightly.The networkallow usersuploadvideostothe site,these videosare
being watched, liked, comment and share at the same time. This however become an advertising
platformformanypoliticianstosendoutcampaignvideo.Accordingtothe researchthe 2007 Finnish
parliamentaryelection. Forinstance “InFinland,YouTube videoswere expectedtoplaya major part
inpartycampaignsforthe 2007 parliamentaryelection.CarlsonandStrandberg,whohave researched
the use of social mediainFinland,foundthatthe effectYouTubehadonthe electionresultsandvoting
behaviour was marginal.The most-watched electioncampaign videos were the so-called “negative”
clips, where some of the gaffes made by the candidates were highlighted” (Sudarshan, n.d.).
Flickr – Flickr is another free network mainly used to put out campaign photos, with more than 4
million images and over 30 million visitors, the platform has become a significant place to be for a
politician to expose their campaign. Each of these above mentionednetworks is totally exceptional
and allows you to link with a massive audience due to the volume of people utilising these social
15. Page 15 of 40
networks.Howeverfrequentupdatesandmake sure theyare connectedtothe campaignwebsite,by
allowing voters to easily get access and engaged you in different networks.
Candidate witha solidcommercial experience,LinkedInisa place to be to showcase your talentand
identityinonesimpletoscanplatform. Withovermillionsof users,thisplatformhasgrowntobecome
one of the popularplatformwherepoliticiansidentifythemselves.Forinstance the UKPrime Minister
linkedInprofile listedhisachievementuptodate bothbeforeandafterengaginginpolitics,According
to the study, the aim is "to connect in the online places where business connects" - with virtual
friendshipsbeingmade "toreflectthe people andbusinessesthe prime ministercomesintocontact
withinthe course of his duties" (King,2011). Myspace could be a feasible andactive networkwhen
targeting urban gathering.
5.3 Social media legal issues
Politicians engaged in the use of social media must bear in mind the legal issues concerning the
conductof usingsocial media,the lawsapplyinthe same waytoofflineconduct.The contentyoupost
on a social networking website being reviewed and scrutinized before it’s unleash within the same
manner as alternative content that's revealed by your organization on an additional formal basis.”
Social networkingcanbe agreatmarketingtool butcanalsobe alegal landmineforthe unwary.Using
social networking to establish and maintain personal and business relationships can be very
productive but must always take into consideration the myriad of ever-lurking legal ramifications”.
(Ossian, et al., n.d.)
Defamation of character is harming someone’s reputation by distributing untrue story about the
individualororganisation.Everyindependentorpolitical partywill be liableforthe contentpostedon
his social media page which causes emotional distress to other party.
Accordingto the article publishedinthe guardianinUKlegal expertswarninternetuserstobe aware
of wronglytaggingpoliticiansaspaedophileswithregardstothe gossipsonsocial mediaof suspected
abusers in Westminster. ”Late Conservative peer Lord McAlpine settled legal action against Twitter
user (Sally Bercow) for untrue suggestion he was a paedophile” (Mason, 2014).
Discrimination and Harassment - Politician must also be aware that discriminating against someone
on social media being it racial, religious or ethnicity. Political parties could be liable for making any
discriminatory comment or harassing any individual, organisation or a group of people.For Instance
when the republican candidate Donald Trump call on “total and complete shutdown of country’s
16. Page 16 of 40
borderstoMuslimsinthe wake ofSanBernardinoterroristattack” (Varghese,2015).BothRepublicans
and Democrats as well as the general public were very quick to criticise his discriminative or hate
remark on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Disclosing Delicate or Proprietary Evidence on social media platforms provide an immediate means
of interacting with your whole online followers, therefore using these tools in rush can lead to
unplanned and possibly even dreadful outcomes. A perfect example is the unquestionably well
proposed tweet in early February from Congressman Peter Hoekstra that he had just landed in Iraq
for what was thought to be a top-secret trip.
Setting up a private policy on social media account that indicate what kind of data is to be collected
and how it should be used, simply because social networks are progressively becoming a basis for
investigation of criminal activities which lead to criminal action. The survey carried by the Irish
examiner on Irish TDs reveal that “Some 82% said they had receivedabusive comments on social
media,while 48%saidtheyhad beencyberbullied — subjectedtoa prolongedcampaignof abuse by
anindividualorgroup”(O'Brien,2014). Forinstance whenLabourSenatorMsHigginswhohaswanted
toannounce anewinternetsafetybillmeantatrestrictionabuse andthreatsonlinereportedtoGarda
about an individual who is threatening to kill her “Ms Higgins said she received an email last week
fromthe same personshe hadrecentlyreportedtoAnGarda Síochána forthreateningherlife.Inthe
email,he toldMs Higginshe wouldburnher house downandshoother” (Bardon,2015). This leadto
criminal investigation and the arrest of the individual by the Garda.
It is significant for politicians to be mindful of copyright law when publishing any content on social
media site that include other media contents, photos, graphics and text must consider having an
applicable copyright law by securing the right to post third party.
5.4 Political controversy on social media
Politicians on social media sites sometimes land themselves into hot water due to direct access to
voters. Handlersandpublic-relationsexpertsusuallymanage acandidate’simage,fordecentreason:
permittinganofficial tochannelizeunfilteredtweetsorFacebookpostshaslandedmanycandidatein
embarrassing position. According to the research UK Labour party committee agreed to start
developing social media guidelinesafter concern were raised“the issue of the veryharmful leaksto
the media and the very damaging way in which social media is being used” (Mason, 2014) on both
17. Page 17 of 40
Twitter and Facebook within the party which led to the continues abuse of number of Labour MPs
online including Liz Kendell.
Politiciansjustlikeanyotherorganisationhave the righttoexpressthemselvesonline,howeverthey
alsohave to be aware of consequencesinvolveshouldtheyactunreasonableonsocial mediafornot
adheringtothe general guidelines.Forexample the controversythatsurroundedLabourTDinIreland
for sending message on Facebook to a 17 year old girl leads to his resignation, The TD admitted by
saying“I sentinappropriate messagesviaFacebook.Thisincludedinadvertentlysendingone to a 17-
year-old woman. To the best of my knowledge, I have never met this woman and the message was
sentwhile underthe influenceof alcohol,"(SundayIndependent,2014). The case of US Congressman
“RepAnthonyWeiner(D-NY) ranintoabitof trouble whenhisaccountwasallegedlyhackedandthen
usedtosendalewdpicturetoone of hisfemale followers”, (Witt,2011) acollege studentfromSeattle
leads to his resignation even though he claim to knew nothing about it.
5.5 Cost of running social media sites
Spending on social media platform is one of the financial challenges political parties face. Politicians
generallyengagedinsocial networkplatformslike,Facebook,Twitter,FlickrandYouTube,these are
cost free networkswhere statisticallymostof the worldpopulationbothyoungand oldare engaged
into. However there are cost of hiring a team of social media experts, hiring a personal assistant or
evenoutsource toanITfirm. ForInstance whenFineGael decidedtolaunchadigitalmediacampaign
platformbyFine Gael forlocal andEuropeanelection,the partyhiredandpaidmediaexpertstowards
buildingthe platformwhichwill feature social networkslike Facebook,Twitter,FlickrandYouTube in
other to provide the public with the party’s information
In UK for instance “Documents obtained by the BBC show that conservatives are spending over
£100,000 each month on Facebook and as much as £3,000 in individual constituency campaigns”
(Hawkins, 2015), in an effort to draw attention and votes, seemingly persuaded that such online
commitment might make a little bit of transformation come the General Election. The 2012 US
election sees Obama and Romney spent 47 and 4.7 million dollars respectively on social media
campaign in other to boost their chances of getting elected.
18. Page 18 of 40
5.6 Key findings of the review
For a politiciantoachievehis/heraimonsocial mediathere are guidelineswhichneedtobe followed
as indicated in chapter one
One of the keyfindingsisthat politicianingeneral engage insocial mediaforvariousreason
such as connecting with their supporters and requesting for a feedback. For instance when
Fine Gael TD requestedforaFeedbackonFacebookafterthe budget,itattracted2 thousand
of likes and many share as well as comments.
The researchalsofindoutthat the most famoussocial mediasitesusedbythe politiciansare
the bigfour, likesof Facebook,Flickr,YouTube and Twitter.Source reveal that Twitteris the
most popularnetworkin 2014 senate electioninthe US with 100% follow by Facebookwith
98%. HoweverinIrelandthe popularSNSusedbythe TDsaccordingtoresearchare Facebook
andTwitterwith86% and42% respectively.MostfrequentSNSamongteensaccordingtothe
research are Facebook an Instagram with 41% and 20% respectively. Study also reveal that
political candidateswithsolidcommercial experience show case theirachievementpastand
present on LinkedIn.
The reviewlookedatlegal issuewithregardstosocial mediasuchasdefamationof character
and discrimination and harassment. For instance the article published by Bardon 2015
indicatingMsHigginsthe Laboursenatorreceivedanemailfromanindividualthreateningher
life lead to criminal investigation and the arrest of that individual by the Garda.
Politiciannotfollowingthe guidelinesleadsthemtocontroversywhichinmostcasesleadsto
resignation,forinstance sendinginappropriatemessagesorimages.The Sundayindependent
article 2014 where LabourTDadmittedforsendinginappropriate messagesthroughFacebook
to a 17 yearoldwhichleadsto his resignationandthe case of NY congressmanwhoposteda
lewd pictures to his follower.
Finally, even though most of these platform are free, politician pay for the cost of hiring an
individual expert such as personal assistant or even outsourcing to social media
communicationexpert.The documentobtainedbyBBCreveal conservative partyspend£100
on Facebook each month.
19. Page 19 of 40
5.7 Conclusion
As a measure of political communication basis, social media is a recent phenomenon in politicsand
political campaign. However for a politician or political party to achieve their goal, there are certain
rules they have to adhere to. The literature review of this study elaborated on various reasons why
politicians shouldengagedin the use of social media,politicians connect with followers or potential
votersby encouragingthemto participate andsupport theircourse,withlarge numberof the world
population using social network sites, this has become necessary for politicians to look into.
From variousinstances there are evidence thatFacebook,TwitterandYouTube are the mostusedSN
tools for political campaign, whereasLinkedIn is usually used by candidates with solid commercial
experience todisplaytheirachievementinone simple platform.The researchalso talkedabouthow
politician need to be aware of legal issues concerning their conduct in using social media as the law
applies the same way as to offline conduct.
The review also talked about political controversy on social media. Politicians just like anyone else
have the right to express their opinion on social media, but theyhave to be aware of consequences
shouldtheyactinappropriatesuchassendingandreceivinginappropriateimagesormessages.Finally
the research reveal the cost involved in running SNS by political parties as in the case of Fine Gael
party hiring and paid for the launching a digital media campaign that featured the big four SNS. The
next chapter will focus on the various surveys conducted in and around the project topic as well as
analysing the finding in support of these arguments.
20. Page 20 of 40
Chapter three
Case Study
6.0 Introduction
Elections are clearly significant to political candidates who are contesting with the aim of getting
successbyreceivingalarge numberof the votes.Social mediaplatformsturnouttobe partandparcel
of party-politicalmovementaswellasamediumfor the generalpublictofindoutabouttheirpolitical
candidates. The study looked at the impact social media had on politics used as stage to influence
followers or likely voters. The methodology of the survey is to gather facts, Principal source of
information will be gathered from the responses through the form of the survey which can assure
exactness of the end result. However, these facts allow me to handle some explicit problems to
politicians regarding their commitment with social network platform and the way these platforms
impact their final political higher cognitive progressspecifically. The studyis limited to the scope of
local politicians from numerous political parties, and the viewsof the general public with regardsto
social media in terms of politics.
6.1 Research approach
The analysisutilizedthe surveyapproachasthe strategyandthe methodtoproduce response tothe
mostanalysisquestion.Surveyresearchapproachmaybeamethodofgatheringinformationbyasking
questions. The study was conducted on-line by means of survey monkey in order to verify the
assumption of the investigation whilst preserving legitimacy as well as to arrange the form on-line
whichpermitme tocollectquantitativedatawhenthe linkof the surveywassenttothelocal politician
via emailswhichwere researchedon-line.The researchtactic isreasonable innature as itsobjective
is to examine the notion that have acknowledged and established in the literature review through
study.
Three surveys were conducted, the first survey was organised and send to 66 local politicians from
numerous political parties within the county. The second was the interview of the members of the
general public and the third was on social media platform. The survey preserves the honour and
admirationforthe respondentsthatparticipatedinthe analysis,the respondentsduringthisanalysis
weren't exploited in any manner what so ever. The information collected as well as analysis were
21. Page 21 of 40
strictly used for tutorial purposes solely and can in no way be utilizedin any other purposes. The
participants were made to be aware at the beginning of the survey that the analysis is completely
voluntary, they do not needto be a part of the analysis if they don’t want to. The expected time for
concludingthe surveywasalso specifiedtobe around 5-10 minuteswhilstthe surveywill contain10
questionnaires in total that should be completed and submit on-line.
6.2 Survey questionnaire1
This part of the survey indicate the findings collected from the interview of 18 members of general
publicbothmale andfemale betweenthe age of 20to 35. The participantswere made tobe aware of
the fact that the researchandanalysiswasforacademicpurposesandcouldnotbe usedforanything
other than that. The research is also voluntarily, meaning is the choice of the participant either to
participate or not to and no details of the research is shared with any political organisation or
individual politicians. They were also made to be aware of the topic of the research.
Q1: Each participant was ask if they have social media account?
The result show that all participant responded “yes” of having social media account. This indicated
howsocial mediahasbecome the mostpopularwebbase tool for the general publictocommunicate
and share information with each other.
Table 3
Social media account % of Respondents No of respondents
Yes 100% 18
No 0% 0
Social mediaaccount
Q2 - What type of social media account do you use?
The table below show that 90% of the respondents use Facebook, 75% have Twitter account, 24%
with YouTube, 30% with Instagram and 10% for others. Facebook being the most popular in social
media platforms as compare to others.
22. Page 22 of 40
Table 4
Social media type Percentage of respondents (18 respondents)
Facebook 90% 16
Twitter 75% 14
YouTube 24% 4
Instagram 30% 5
Others 10% 2
Types of Social media accounts
Q3: Which of the social networks sites do you access on daily basis?
The resultof Figure1showthat 75% of the respondentsaccessFacebookcompareto17% whoaccess
Twitterand 8% who accessother social medianetwork, thisshow how popularFacebookiscompare
to other social media networks. Facebook is much preferred by many for the simple fact that the
networkgivesusersthe abilitytoworktogetherandshare material inmore improvementwayandis
user friendly than the 140 characters compare to Twitter, one could post a large quantity of
information. Facebook network also has much more better API such as developers and application
which mean better know-how for all.
Figure 2: Accessing of social media (Q3)
Q4: Did you vote in the last election?
Accordingto the survey86% of those interviewedindicatedthattheyhave votedinthe lastelection,
whilstthe other14% didnotvote inthe lastelection.Mostpeoplewhovotedinanelectionare more
75%
17%
8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Facebook Twitter Others
23. Page 23 of 40
expected to vote in the upcoming elections as presumed, on the other hand a voter may decide to
withdraw from voting. Huge turnout indicates the interest the public had on politics.
Figure 3: Last election vote (Q4)
Q5: Do you think it is important for a local politician to be active social media platforms?
53% of those surveyed think it is very important, 30% thinks it is important, 12% indicated that it is
somehowimportantwhereas5%concludedthat it is not importantat all.The resultof the question
indicatedthatmajorityof the general publicfeelsitsignificantfora politiciantohave a social media
platforms.Bybeingactive onsocial mediaplatformitallow politiciantoreachout to theirnational in
a more objective style. However the role of social media phenomenon in growing political
commitment and political contribution is neither simple nor clear.
Figure 4: Politicians activeness on social media (Q5)
Q6: Do you follow any politician on social media?
Politiciansengaged in social media in other to put their informationacross, the table below indicate
that 71% of the respondentssaytheyfollow politicianonsocial mediaplatform.Thisis an indication
86%
14%
Yes No
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Very important Important Somehow important Not important
Activeness of a politician on social media
24. Page 24 of 40
of a rise of individualvotersturningouttocast theirballetdue large numberof individualsaccessing
political contentfromsocialmediasites. Male respondentsseemtobe dominantinaccessingpolitical
content on social media.
Figure 5: Followers of politicians (Q6)
Q7: Was the politician social media profile helpful to learn about him/her?
It’sclearfromthe graphbelowthatalmost54% of the respondentsbelieve socialnetworkassistthem
in learning more about the candidate, at the same time 33% somehow believedthat social media
assistina wayof gettingsufficientinformationaboutthe politician.The remaining13% thinkthatthe
politician profile on social media does not help in anyway with regards to gaining some knowledge
about the individual politician.
Figure 6: Politician profile (Q7)
71%
39%
Yes No
54%
33%
13%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Yes Somehow No
25. Page 25 of 40
Q8: Do you rely on social media for political updates?
The resultof the analysisindicate thatlarge numberof the respondentswhoutilisesocial mediavery
much depend on social it to achieve information about a politician or political candidate, It also
indicate that most of the respondents utilises Facebook a lot more as compare to the other kinds of
social media, 75% of the respondents uses Facebook each day. People that rely on social media for
political updatesare more expectedtohave contacts who share theirpolitical understanding andto
listen to political view of others who are in line with their personal opinions.
Figure 7: Social Media for updates (Q8)
Q9: Would contents you read on social media about a politician inspired you to vote for him/her?
The content posted by a politician on a social media is very significant in influencing his follower or
likelyvotersinfavourof othercandidates.The figure below show alarge numberof the respondents
will be inspiredtovoteforapoliticianbase onthe informationtheyread abouttheparticularpolitician
on social media, however, there seems to be an enormous prospective for political candidates to
discover on social media.
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00%
Yes
No
26. Page 26 of 40
Figure 8: Contents on Social Media (Q9)
6.3 Survey questionnaire2
Q1: Do you use social media for political purposes?
Analysis of the online survey gathered from 8 politicians out of 66 through survey monkey.
Social media has become an essential tool for every political candidate due to the amount of traffic
the network has, it is therefore significant tool nowadays for political candidate to get linked.
Accordingtothe survey75%of the politiciansutilisessocial mediastrategyfortheirpolitical purposes,
whilst 25% do not engage with social media.
Table 5
AnswerChoice Response
Yes 75%
No 25%
Social Media for political purposes (Q1)
Q2: Name the types of social media you use
The figure indicatethatmostof the politiciansusesFacebook,TwitterandLinkedIn.Surprisinglyevery
single one of the respondents has Facebook account in addition to either Twitter or LinkedIn. This
howeverindicateall of the politiciansutilisesFacebookinconjunctionwitheithertwitterorLinkedIn,
statistically 57.14% uses twitter in addition to Facebook and 28.57% uses LinkedIn in addition to
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Yes
No
27. Page 27 of 40
Facebook.It’sclearthatthe pathwayof social mediaisledbyFacebook,ithasbecome anewsdriving
force among the other social media sites which is why most politician uses this platform.
Table 6
Answerchoices Response
Facebook 100%
Twitter 57%
LinkedIn 28%
Types of social media
Q3: On a daily basis how much time do you spend on your social media network
Most politiciandonotspendmuchtime on social mediaaccordingto the response,thisisincontrast
withresponse of the memberof the public,vastmajorityof themspend alittle more thananhouron
social mediaonadailybasisandafewpercentageof themspendmore thantwohoursadayonsocial
media site. However both the politicians and members of the public uses Facebook a lot more than
any other social network sites.
Figure 9: Time spent on Social Media (Q3)
Q4: What category of age group are your followers?
Most of the politicianswhorespondedindicatethat50% of theirfollowerare between30-45years
of age and another50% are over45 years of age.The findingrevealthatmajorityof theirfollowers
are over30 years,meaningthere islackof appeal forthe youngergenerationtogetinvolve.
Table 7
Age group Responses
18-30 years 0%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
Greater than an hour Less than 2 hours
Time spenton social media
28. Page 28 of 40
30-45 years 50%
Over 45 years 50%
Categoryof age group
Q5: Do you think social media has changed the way politics is run in Ireland? If yes please explain!
The resultindicate 100%of the respondentsbelievedsocial mediaisslowlychangingthe waypolitics
isrun in Ireland, these site are significantforsharinginformationandcreatingvastmovement,which
has changedthe wayall politiciansandthe general publicconnectandintermingle withone another.
Faster access to information, feedback on issues and organising of various interest political groups.
Howeversome politiciansare also sceptical aboutthe takeoverof social mediabase on the fact that
no party has won election without the conjunction of social media and old-style door to door
communication. Therefore it is too early to make a final conclusion on to the significance of social
media to politicians.
Q6: What are the negative aspect of social media you’ve experienced as a politician?
For a politician to be successful in his/her campaign is all down to his appearance to have good
reputation,politiciansare alsoawarethatsocial mediacanripaparttheirreputationtopiecesandthe
destruction could last for years to come. However most of the respondents indicated that they
haven’texperiencedanynegative feedbackorabuse,on the other handfew of the respondenthave
sufferabuse fromanonymouscowardsandfar left.One couldtherefore imagine thatif a politicianis
part of the government making unpopular decision, then social media could pretty brutal for its
criticism.
Q7: Do you as a politicianfollowspecificguidelineswith regards to using social media for political
agenda? If yes please explain!
According to the survey result, some politician follow internal guidelines of their political party here
in Ireland, guidelines like protecting individual information provided by the general public. Any
information that can be used to detect a particular person which includes medical detail, name,
address and so on. On the other hand a large number of the respondent indicated that they do not
follow any guidelines.
29. Page 29 of 40
Figure 10: Social mediaguidelines(Q6)
6.4 Testing of social media platforms
The surveyalsoposteda questiononFacebookasking! Doyouthinkpoliticianssucceededthrough
social mediainpersuadingthe publictogo to the polls? The testwasrespondedbyfriendsinmy
contacts,out of whicha total of 25 people of differentage grouptookpart inthe Facebookquestion
and the table belowindicatethe age group,numberof respondents andpercentageof respondent.
Figure 11: How successful is social media to politicians
44% of the respondentsbelievedpoliticianare verymuchsucceedinginpersuadingthe public
whereasanother44% saytheyare somehow and12% were unsure.Thisindicate thatpolitical
information’sonsocial networkcanencourage political engagement.
The surveyalsoposteda questiononTwitterasking,why do you thinksome politiciansfail onsocial
media?Outof those who responded,45% of the respondentbelievedlackof listening,30% believed
lack of consistency and 25% believed lack of activeness.Building up a listening tactics as a politician
can assist keep well-informed of what’s already being said by your followers on social media.
28.57%
71.43%
Yes No
44% 44%
12%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Very much Somehow Not at all
30. Page 30 of 40
Figure 12: Politician failure on social media
6.5 Some of the key finding includes:
75% of the politicianswhorespondedengagedinSNSfortheirpolitical agenda, witheachand
everyone of themutilisingFacebookinadditionwitheitherTwitterorLinkedIn.Thiscoincide
with the result of the general public which reveal that 82% with Facebook account only, 8%
with Facebook and Twitter and 10% with Facebook and other SNS has maintained the
reasoning in the literature built on the fact that Facebook and Twitter are the most popular
network and LinkedIn as a platform for identifying achievements.
All the respondents believe that social media has changed the way politics is run in Ireland
because it allowsyouto connect and share informationwithyourfollowers,getfeedbackas
well as data analysis. However, a little more than 70% of the politicians says they follow
internal code of conduct guidelinesof theirvarious political partiesinothertoavoidpolitical
controversy.Suchasprotectingindividual informationandpostinginappropriate information
or images.
The evidence onthe Facebookindicatedthatmostrespondentdonotfollow anypoliticianor
political partybecause theyare a bitsceptical aboutthem, they are not to be trusted,boring
and only serve their own interest. The evidence on twitter indicated that politicians need to
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Lack of consistency Lack of activeness Lack of listening
Why do you think somepoliticians fail on social media
31. Page 31 of 40
adhere to guidelines by paying attention to what their followers are saying which most of
them do not do based on the twitter result.
A little over70%of the membersof the publicsaystheyfollowpoliticianonsocial mediawhich
is an indicationof how SNS influencesfollowers,whilstina separate questions53% thinksis
veryimportantfora politiciantoactive onsocial mediabecause theydependonsocial media
to study more about the purpose of their candidate’ political agenda.
Anotherinterestingfindingwasover60% of the memberof the publicsaysthe contentthey
readon social mediaaboutapoliticianinspiredthemtovote asinthe case of Calgarymayoral
candidate Naheed Nenshi who hurled to popular vote in a matter of days due to largely to
savvy social media.
32. Page 32 of 40
6.6 Conclusion
Using the outcomesfromthe analysisitcan be decidedthatthe findingsdosupportthistheorythat
the presence of social mediainapoliticalcampaignwill positivelyaffectthe supportof thatcandidate
amongvoters,withover80%of the citizensonsocialmedia,thishasbecome significantforpoliticians
to engagedonthese platformsbymakingtheirpurposeclearaswell asfollowingthe guidelines,most
especiallyFacebookandTwitterastheyare the most usedplatformbybothpoliticiansandmembers
of the public.
Even though most politicians believe that SNS has changed the way politics is run, however, it is fair
to say that most Irish politiciansdo not spend much time on social media in other to really connect
with their supporters this could probably be down to the cost of running these platforms like
employingaprofessional,the surveypointoutthatover60% spendalittle more thananhourondaily
basis.In contrastwiththe memberof the publicwhorelyon the contenton social mediaforpolitical
updates that will inspire them to vote. A little over 75% of the politicians says they follow internal
guidelines of their individual party and most never experience any sort of negativity on SNS.
Finally, it is fair to say that SNS has played and will carry on to play a vital role in politics, takeninto
consideration the speed of the technologyand the sheer volume of people SNS can reach in a short
amount of time. However, politicians need to be aware that, there are laid guidelines to follow in
other to be successful on these platforms.
33. Page 33 of 40
Chapter four
Conclusion
7.0 Introduction
Social networking sites are getting additional broadly used as a contemporary channel for posting,
findingandsharingdataandcontentinpolitics.Thisinnovative developmentsare embracedmoreby
the members of the general public, this however becomes critical for politicians and their political
parties campaign. Even though ancient media and public opinion still take a significant position in
politics. Social media updates still are in it promising period of enlargement,not solely the scope of
online social media is larger, additionally the political communicationreaches individualsin a totally
different approach, messages and data will return through numerous times a day by social media
users.The analysisof the researchwas centredon the impactof social mediaon politics.The survey
was analysed using Microsoft excel tool and most of the respondents engaged in the use of social
network sites which has magnified potential of growth in future from political point of view.
The review of the literature has highlighted various areas a politicians need to looked at before
engaging on the social network, areas like purpose of engagement and tool needed, legal rules,
controversy and cost involved. These platforms has become a marketing strategy not only for
politicians but for the whole world at large where politicians have been fast to embrace and sway
social media to engage and educate their potential voters. According to article “Social media are an
important supporting cast that can drive valuable traffic to the site and engage voters on a more
personal level”(NewMediaCampaign,n.d.).Althoughfora politicianstoachieve these results,they
will have toengagethemselvesinthemostpopularsocialmediatoolsknownasthebig fouraspointed
out in the reviewaswell astaking intoaccount the charge involve inrunningpolitical promotionson
these media platforms.
We’ve alsolearntfromthe case studythatpoliticianswhorespondedusessome of the bigfoursocial
media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their potential voters due to its
advanced tool and much expansive reach as compare to other social media sites.Although majority
of the politicians believed social media has changed the way politics is run, they spent less time on
social mediaaccordingto the surveyto interactwiththeirfollowers,whichinmyopinionbecomesa
ghosttown.Againmostpoliticiansindicatedthattheyfollow internalguidelinesof theirpolitical party
in other not to get caught up in controversy or any negativity on social media. In summary most
34. Page 34 of 40
politicians social media in conjunction with the traditional way of reaching people (door-door
canvassing) is the only way forward at the moment.
35. Page 35 of 40
7.1 Conclusion
Overall itcan be determinedthatuse of social mediasiteshassubstantial effectonpolitics.The sites
offers political candidates and parties an innovative prospect and opinion to sell themselves which
could be more treasured in long run as paralleled to old-style communication method. However,
accordingto the surveymostthe politicianswhorespondeddonotspendmuchtime onsocial media
on a daily basis therefore these platform has become somehow disengaged (No Ghost Town) with
followerwhichleadtolackof transparencyandlackof consideringlisteners.Asfarasfuture isconcern
itis fairtosay thatold-style wayof communicationwillcarryonto be usedinpolitics,however,social
networks will continue to be a vital part for political contestants. Finally, for future research, there
are a lot of detail questions need to be asked which this research did not cover it will even be
fascinating to try to do an in-depth study of the explanations behind the survey questions and
responses established.
36. Page 36 of 40
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39. Page 39 of 40
Appendices
Appendix A: Basic function of a social media
Source: http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/2012/06/basic-functions-of-a-social-media-tool/
Appendix B: The most popular social networks
Source: http://www.augure.com/blog/senate-elections-influencers-20141104
40. Page 40 of 40
Appendix C: Most popular social network among teenagers
Source: http://www.parentalcontrolsapps.com/the-bizarre-reality-and-impact-of-the-
internet-on-your-teenager/