Social media has such a huge role when it comes to learning about the ins and outs of

politics. Studies have shown that more people get their news about politics through
Facebook and Twitter now. It is crazy to think before pre-internet days, we had the wait
a full 24 hours to get our information about what was going. Now new stations are have
this obligation to be posting online news around the clock. The role of social media is to
find the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Media has the ability to shape our views
about how we feel about politics and the opposing party.
One way social media helps understand politics is because of the sources that are
available on social media. I do have to admit I didn’t actually get into politics until 2016
election. The only thing I knew about politics was that I was raised as a democrat. One
way I used social media to understand politics was looking into what the candidates
believe in. I knew beforehand I would be voting for the democratic nominee in the
election but I knew people from my hometown would disagree on my views about the
opposing candidate.
Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of Donald Trump whatsoever. However, I do
believe he knew the powerful effect of social media. I think social media had a huge role
in Donald Trump’s campaign. He knew when he tweeted something, all news pressed
would be covering it. He literally said anything that was on his mind and it would go
viral within minutes.
When it came to debating Hilary Clinton, he wasn’t doing too good at that but he
was dominating on Twitter because he was being “real”. I stated real because he was
giving people what they wanted to hear. For example, Hilary Clinton has been in the eye
of media for a while. She knew if she said anything out of context, she would be facing
backlash. You could tell when she tweet, it was strategize and kind of rehearsed in a way
which made it seem boring. Donald Trump was the complete opposite. He has never
dealt with politics in his whole life so many people viewed him as an “everyday man”. He
said anything that came to his mind and everyone was falling for. Keep in mind he had
many grammar errors and misspellings in his tweets. Yes he did has consultants while
he was campaigning but why go through them when he can speak his mind through the
comfort of his phone?

One thing people don’t take into consideration about social media and politics is
that people live for controversy. Whether you want to believe it or not, we love to see
drama on social media! It gives us something to talk about and makes us wanting more
information about the situation. So when Donald Trump wanted to “build a wall” and
eliminating Obamacare. This was a dream come true for many Republicans! Trump
shared his views about both of these topic via tweet and it was genius.

In conclusion, social media has helped us understand politics in many ways. It

gives resources to understand why one party believes in one thing, why the opposing
party believes what they believe, and how you can interact with voters through social
media.