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Social Media and Politics 2 (The Concerns (Cairncross Review 2019…
Social Media and Politics 2
Pre-Social Media
politics moving closer to entertainment
TV debates, chat show appearences
discourse curated by elite interests
Mass broadcast
Post-Social Media
Targeting
2008 Obama campaign
Virality
Russell Brand - The Trews
Social media campaigning
Key Concepts
Mediatization
Rooted in idea that there is a political logic and a media logic
It is a process oriented concept about the influence that media has on politics, society, etc.
Mediated communication and media environments are pervasive
Politics depends on media and changes in media affect politics
“Within the model of representative democracy the mass media have become an omnipresent, highly consequential ‘environmental factor’ that sometimes irritates, interferes, or even obstructs political processes.”
Commodification
“Selling” political ideologies
Using techniques from marketing such as research tools, targeting, testing messages
Treating citizens as consumers
Celebrity politics
Celebrities getting involved and even running for office
Politicians using the tactics of celebrities
Platformization
Platforms are – participatory, programmable, privately owned
'the medium is the message' - McLuhan
Business model based on free use is common
Data, Data, Data
The Concerns
Role of media in politics
Liberal Perspective: Fourth estate, free press
expectations of the news is too create a public sphere and discourse and to represent the people
Social media news
In 2018 74% of UK adults used online methods to find news and 91% of 18-24 year olds (Reuters Institute)
Commodification & Platformization
The market for attention trumps public sphere
Commercial, attention-grabbing, mobile, networked is competing well for attention and advertising revenues
Social media are part of ecosystems of platforms owned by single companies.
Cairncross Review 2019
Investigative journalism and democracy reporting are the two forms of journalism which are both most worthy and most under threat.
High-quality journalism is a subjective concept and could apply to endeavours that would not warrant government support.
Although news can be found on a number of different media, written journalism (whether in print or online) supplies the largest of quantity of original journalism and is most at risk.
The cost of investigative journalism is great and rarely results in significant financial reward.
The reduction in democracy reporting leads to a fall in community engagement (such as voter turnout) by local residents.
Fake News
Falsehoods travel faster and farther than lies -Particularly true for political news (Roy & Aral)
False stories tended to be more interestingly new or unusual
False stories inspired fear, disgust & surprise, whereas true stories inspired anticipation, sadness, joy & trust
Skewing by social media?
Vote Leave campaign Director Dominic Cummings said they put 98% of money into digital campaigning & held most until just days before to use heavily tested messages
Automated discourse
“in the run-up to the June Brexit vote, “highly- automated accounts” favoring departure from the European Union were more prolific, by a ratio of 3 to 1, than automated accounts on the other side of the debate”
Proliferation of hate
Hate speech and incitement to hatred and violence are illegal, but on social media Offensive or insulting content is NOT illegal
Social mediatization
Social media logic is different from traditional media logic
Short, new, bombastic, and often anonymous speech characteristic of social media discourse
Concerns about consequences – less informed citizens, more divided societies, even violence
THINGS BEING DONE: Codes of practice on disinformation and hate speech