Social Media and The Presidential Election

Social Media & the Elections

Campaigns and elections were based on speeches and newspaper to make the community get more involved in the elections, but everything has changed. Nowadays, the social media is playing a really important role in how the candidates are perceived. There are many sources in the social media that enables the candidates to raise money, recruit campaign volunteers and convince voters. The messages are being distributed in a more fast and efficient way through the media networks like Facebook and Tweeter.

Campaigns The campaign needs to be organized. The polls are really important because they can tell what kind of people, concerns, and information the community knows about the candidate. This way the campaign can more easily target the population and be more effective. These polls can also explain the public's opinion and the kind of advertisement the population wants.

Funding

"The 2008 presidential and congressional elections cost $5.3 billion dollars, a 25 percent increase over 2004." Federal Election Campaign Act explains how the assets are supposed to be used during a campaign and how much the candidates are supposed to used. So with such a high amounts of money being spent during campaigns and with a law that puts a limit to it, the candidates need to find a way to raise funds to maintain their campaign. In 2008, Barack Obama used the media in an incredible manner to get more people interested in the campaign and many of them contributed with donations towards his campaigns.

“First of all, if you look at the numbers on this, it’s absolutely incredible. He had 4 million donors to his campaign, which is about one in 17 people who voted for him gave him money," Peter Fenn. (Political communications strategist)

Convincing VotersPopulation want to know everything about the candidates. The candidates imagine is really important for a good campaign. In other words, the candidates want to share their background, experiences, and personal qualities. I believe media is a great way to share this kind of information

Collaboration, Transparency, Sharing and Empowerment.

Don Tapscott: Four Principles for the Open World

The Internet and the web 2.0  are great ways for people to come together and many of us see it as a way for human beings to create a better and clearer future. 

In my point of view, with the web being more open in the ways that Mr. Tapscott describes, society can be less ignorant and open to improvement. He talks about the Internet being more open in four main categories. First of all, it is collaboration. If the social media work together, there will be more social production and more ways for us to work together and help each other and be a stimulus for and by new ideas. Readers can contribute and trade information and many more things. Internet collaborations can create more improvements. For example, I found a really good blog about Internet collaboration. It makes me realize that there are thousands of people who would like to help and be helped.  Second, by the web being open, it also is transparent. The transparency of the web is based on how good the integrity of it is. People want good values that can produce trust and also communicate the information in a ethical way. It makes the people know what is really going on with important manners. Third, it is sharing. I feel like sharing goes hands on hands with collaborating. It is really important to share ideas, and social problems that need to be addressed with people all over the world. This also applies for institutions and organizations.

"Institutions are becoming naked as people develop powerful tools to find out what is going on in them. Wiki leaks is the tip of the iceberg," (Tapscott).

Empowerment is giving to more people over the web. We can find so many knowledge in the web that can be turn into freedom. Human beings have more chances to express themselves and learn from other cultures, religions, governments and organizations. The four principles will make people more conscious about  everything around them thanks to the web. Intelligence will be a way for humanity to come together, protect and create a better future.