In today’s politics, social media platforms play a significant role in determining who will win an election and how political parties develop their campaign strategies. Political parties use popular social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, Twitter, and Snapchat in their activities and processes. These political activities and processes include global politics, political organization and reorganization, political values, and political corruption. Many political parties are now turning to social media platforms that are seen as channels that can change the message and the dynamics of political values, corruption, and global conflicts.
It is believed that social media platforms have helped increase political participation, with users now able to air their political opinion openly and share with their followers about the direction a country or state is taking politically. On the other hand, political institutions monitor, collect, and analyze this information to develop workable solutions to political problems and manifestos, which they use to convince the electorate to vote for them. The following are ways how political institutions benefit from social media platforms.
Appealing to Emotions
Social media platforms are an avenue where people share their thoughts, ideas, and opinion about their day-to-day life experiences and political affiliation online. Nowadays, politicians are very active on social media pages and interact with their followers through the platforms. Influential people also contribute a tweet or post on their pages and let their followers do the work.
Data and Analytical Purposes
Political parties conduct surveys towards a decisive election to gauge the party’s popularity or candidate in different regions. Using various social media analytics and statistical tools, the parties can focus their campaigns to attract more followers and engage their loyal supporters.