How is Social Media Influencing the Election Process?

It’s election season! Election season in Jamaica, election season in the United States and recently Trinidad held their election. Many are excited, ESPECIALLY the loyalists.

Social media has become one of the playgrounds for politics, with both positive and negative effects.

The increasing access of social media and the increased involvement of politicians, have slowly transformed the election process and continues to do so.This transformation doesn't equate to a failing system, despite the disadvantages that come with it.

I think quarantine period however, is illuminating a number of things that were usually overlooked by many.

The world is paying attention but still very distracted.

Social media has indeed shown how easy it is for persons to get distracted from what is important in the political and election process. We see it daily. One tweet from President Trump mocking another candidate or just Trump…tweeting, can shift the focus to what he has said until another topic arises for the focus of users collectively.

We also saw it with Kanye West's trending moments on Twitter, which led to many media networks ousting it as the headliner for the election discussions.

Users' attention spans are short. This allows political candidates to strategize with this in mind.

Unfortunately, this strategizing is not always obvious to the public. Remember the distraction I mentioned earlier? Yes, the subtle and sometimes even overtly strategies used, are not grasped by the public when many distractions are placed before them.

Therefore, during an election season, it's very easy for politicians to throw distractions, with the help of media networks, to switch the conversations and reduce the accountability being requested of them.

Momentarily, this might not be seen as a cause of concern and instead categorized as 'just politics', until it is time to hold leaders accountable, then the ramifications are blinding.

On the other hand, social media has allowed candidates to interact with their audience easily and advertise their existing projects and plans. This stands as one of the major pros.

It has increased their visibility, shows a glance of their personality, which for some works in their favour and others not so much.

Being able to connect a face to a name or an interaction to a name is important in the election process.

A number of politicians have realized this and Public relations and marketing teams have been benefiting from this. The new focus is placed on how to capture the audience and how to sell an image of politicians.

Currently Jamaica’s election seems to be a social distanced sound clash. Many candidates are releasing dubs and honestly…I am tired of these dubs.

How does this influence the election process?

Well, it does add an enjoyable moment for both voters and potential voters and its good to see politicians adjusting to capture their audience, especially the younger generation.

However, many persons, including myself are not as enthused about these dubs.

In my opinion it has really been a distraction from what is paramount in the election process. I understand the importance of political marketing and engaging your audience, however, relevance is important and what is more relevant should not be sacrificed for mere short-term entertainment.

As much as it might be enjoyable for some, if the focus has shifted to it, rather than what’s really important then it is subtracting from the process.

Wouldn’t a manifesto clash be more fun?

Candidates pushing their plans for the communities, parties pushing the policies and plans for the country. I think I would enjoy this more and I also think it would be more substantial.

It is still very early in the election period, however, one can only hope that the extended conversations surrounding the clashes will also embrace policies and plans being put forward eventually.

Public relation is important, an entertaining campaign is good, but when the more important discussions are being drowned by it, then it becomes problematic. Subtracting rather than adding.

When a government is elected, the citizens will not be able to hold them accountable for their plans highlighted in these dubs, if any are even being mentioned.

While I have observed manifestos being slowly brought forward, it’s not seen as entertaining for some, which results in it being overshadowed.

This only makes the election process easier for political candidates and certainly many have been using this to their advantage.

Social media should be used to make it easier for citizens to gain clarification and more information from politicians, not for the process to be easier for politicians to blindly infatuate citizens.

The blame can't be placed on a platform, especially considering the advantages it has allowed. However, it is requisite for users to avoid feeding the adverse effects of using social media, which allows it to subtract from the election process.

Let's use the platforms we have to our advantage.

Share your views, how do you feel about the influence of social media on the election process?

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!