The existence of social media in the world has been affecting the political process and how citizens and politicians interact online. With these changes, the rise of fake news has caused social media and politics to cross. One of the amazing benefits of social media and the internet is the fast dissemination of information and news. Netizens can easily post their insights and views on a certain political issue in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Social media also make the campaigns of politicians reach wider audience through advertisements since people devote most of their time on their mobile devices. But did you know that there are still candidates who prefer to keep their social media accounts on private. If you are a voter and you think that you will be able to know more about a person if you take a look at his/her account but it is private and you do not want to follow, then there is instagram private profile viewer where you can view a private account even though you are not following that person.
“The effects of social media can be seen in the two big platforms, Facebook and Twitter, which had a rise of fake news on both,” Erik Bucy, a professor of strategic communications, said. “They have different user bases, Facebook having a broader base, many users who are older, more less educated people and it is more family oriented. Twitter has more journalists, it suits the news junkie, and has more of a political focus. Both downplay bad information so much so that an estimate of over 100 million people saw some form of fake news.”
Another way on how social media affects politics is that social media for politicians to create and disseminate their portrayal of America, their policies and election just like mentioned earlier. They create alternative accounts of the other side playing up the good versus evil narrative and how their policy affects this narrative. Because of how social media manipulates our minds, citizens get portrayals with inaccuracies. Fake news get disseminated along very vast because it feels correct and it fits within narratives rather that a consideration of facts.
This echo chamber impacts how people view their side as they see their side as completely right and the other side as wrong.