In today’s world, social media is
the newest and biggest thing on the Internet. Everyone has a Twitter or Facebook, therefore connecting
with other people. This year is
the presidential debate and when I get on my Twitter, all I see is people
talking about it. People’s
opinions and thought can change in an instant just by what people say about the
representatives.
Then
there are some people that don’t even care about politics and would rather not
hear about this topic. Is there
anything they can do? To an extent
there is, but at least one of their friends will be talking about it. According
to the article from the Pew Research center, “25% of SNS users say they have
become more active in a political issue after discussing it or reading posts
about it on the sites” (Rainie 2012).
The numbers have been increasing tremendously over the years.
Then
when I listened to the podcast, it raises the question whether political
discussions belong on social media networking sites. My answer is how are you going to keep the discussions off
those sites. If I want to post
something about politics, who or what is going to stop me. I did not post anything bad or obscene. Now to steer people in the direction of
taking politics off of a social media network, the only thing I can think of is
to create a political social media network. Have their own site where people can talk about politics and
every one can be happy. According to Foreign Affairs, “…social
media has become a fact of life for civil society worldwide, involving many
actors -- regular citizens, activists, nongovernmental organizations,
telecommunications firms, software providers, governments. This raises an
obvious question for the U.S. government: How does the ubiquity of social media
affect U.S. interests, and how should U.S. policy respond to it?” (Shirky
2011).
I
am not big into politics but do find the topics interesting to listen to. People are going to continue to discuss
politics today, tomorrow, and for years to come. Social Media Networks play a big part in the way people talk
about them.
Rainie, L. (2012) Politics on social networking sites.
Pew Research Center. September 4, 2012. From http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_PoliticalLifeonSocialNetworkingSites.pdf
Shirky, C. (2011) The political power of social media.
Foreign Affairs. From January 2011. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media
I agree, there is really no way to keep people from talking about politics on networking sites. Even if a site was made for political discussion it would not keep people from discussing it in other areas. Online social networking sites are becoming more and more important to making a decision in politics.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a social networking site for politics would be good and make people happy. It would give all people a voice about the topic since everyone isn't heard. At the same time people still will put whatever they want all over all of the other social networking sites, so would that site really be beneficial? Like you said nobody can stop you from posting anything on these sites especially if its not obscene or disrespectful. People just need to monitor what they write about the topic like they monitor themselves when writing about other topics.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post 100%. It's not at the fault of the social media site what is said regarding politics. That's all up to the individual. What I wish for is an ability among mankind to refrain from posting degrading and vicious comments on the views of others.
ReplyDelete