Twitter As An Influential Platform In Political Decision Making

Social media has proved extremely influential when it comes to policy making in the modern society. Platforms like Twitter allow users from all around the world to follow politicians, its making average citizens more involved in political decisions. The statement is accurate in suggesting that social media platforms like Twitter have increasingly become an important tool when making policy decisions. Citizens no longer must be consumers of political party propaganda, instead of Twitter has allowed individuals to challenge these discourses, share alternative perspectives and publish their own opinion. There are several aspects that must be analyzed to fully understand the extent to which Twitter has become the new platform for decision making; this includes the economic, political power, and activism. Below I will expand on these aspects and portray how it has shifted the dimension of political decision making to be under the value of social media networks like Twitter.

Firstly, the economic factor behind twitter being a platform for policy making is one that has proved very substantial. On the one hand, we must understand that online technology significantly lowers the cost of participation of citizens both in terms of time and effort. On the other hand, we must ask why do must politicians have Twitter? The answer to this is clear, it is simply because candidates who are active on social media receive funding. Thirty-six months after Twitter adoption, politicians who adopt twitter received more donations in terms of number and amount than those who didn’t have twitter accounts. This is because Twitter has now become a political tool in changing relationships between politicians and the public. Also, Twitter allows politicians to raise money for their campaigns, for example, Barack Obama's extraordinary success at internet fundraising in the 2008 American Presidential election. In which candidates raised more than $1.6 Billion, an increase of more than 149% over the amounts raised by candidates in 2004 (Pfeiffer, pg16, 2018). Thus, Twitter must be identified as one of the most important contributing factors to the increase in 2008 funding. Politicians should embrace social media because an increasing amount of people turn to social media like Twitter to learn about politics. This demonstrates that Twitter is very significant for policy making because it has allowed people to be a part of the whole political process rather than being spectators from the outside.

Furthermore, through the analysis of the political power aspect, it shows that Twitter has a huge impact on voting participation due to its immense number of social media users. During the last election in the UK Twitter and other social media outlets like Facebook played a key role in encouraging the youth to vote. Another prominent example would be the 2015 Federal election in Canada, in which Twitter was used to inspire young people to vote. Justin Trudeau later won the election and by 2016 he had over 1.39 Million followers on Twitter. It seems that the young-looking image of Trudeau had boosted young participants’ interest and motivation to seek out more cues to evaluate him more accurately. Additionally, the fact that he was highly acknowledged by older citizens made Trudeau appear more trustworthy. Trudeau stays in the public eye by constantly staying active on his twitter account by posting pictures, videos and updates of his political agenda. In 2016 he was acknowledged as the first prime minister to answer questions from the Canadian public directly on Twitter. The hashtag “first100” allowed him to connect easier with the public. The term hashtag has become a prominent tool used on Twitter by politicians and the public. It is the term attached to a tweet that organizes the discussion around specific topics or events and aides in searching. It is very beneficial for politicians because it allows party communicators to extend their message beyond followers, which gives more reach to their power. These hashtags on twitter also enable party communicators to contribute to the conversation about different topics political or otherwise. Hence, social media networks, such as Twitter specifically truly revolutionized how we communicate with our politicians, one does not have to be a Twitter user to follow the conversation because hashtags are visible to anyone. Overall this reveals that Twitter is very important for policy making because it can allow politicians to determine what people’s needs are in society and aim to fulfill it.

On the other hand, although the influence of Twitter on decision making cannot be denied, however, some believe that this influence plays an ideological role. This leads to the idea that politicians take advantage of their political power and social media. Those who traditionally hold power, like media conglomerates and politicians, maintain power. They can reach millions of people with a click of a button, this means they have the power to influence public opinion. Through the control of Twitter by the ruling class, politicians build relationships with media conglomerates, who then alter information and control their opinions ideologically. This demonstrates that Twitter’s role in policy making is very key to transforming people’s views and creating propaganda on the social network.

In addition, Twitter and other social networks are now arguably the primary source of political information. Contrary to the theory above, I think the use of social media like twitter helps citizens become more informed. Meaning opinions become better informed and participants are more likely to understand and recall arguments for and against many issues as compared to people who do not participate in the discussion. This unintentionally encourages citizens to become opinion leaders and to engage in online debates. Studies show that 74% of Twitter users went online both to communicate about politics and to obtain news during the 2008 US elections. This doesn’t only make people more knowledgeable, but it also gives them confidence. More importantly, people regard this type of electronic forum as a credible place to try out new ideas and even to change old policies. Resultantly idea exchange on political matters challenges politicians and their unpopular policies. This forces politicians to be better prepared for the questions of better-informed citizens. In this sense, Twitter is highly empowering and psychologically rewarding by making the public feel more engaged in the political process.

Moreover, ‘Beyond the hashtags’ study, analyzed 40 million tweets over the course of a Year and several periods across the Black Lives Matter movement. We saw how social media like Twitter can shape policy decisions, particularly about issues of racial justice and Criminal Justice system. Twitter has allowed local communities, minorities and black people to shape politics. This is revealed very powerfully in what we would call the birthplace of Black Lives Matter which was in Missouri, where Michael Brown was shot dead by a white police officer. What happened in many ways was significant in terms of the way news cycles, which is that the news and narrative of the news are shaped by reporters. With Ferguson Missouri, however, we saw something different, the awareness was raised primarily because of Twitter. A numerous number of locals were tweeting what they had witnessed, immediately there was an uproar on Twitter and other social media platforms, and the news spread across the globe. Twitter refigured news reporting because when major news media started reporting on the story, their sources in the first 24 hours entirely came from twitter. This is significant for policy making because these news media reporting the event had news framing about Michael Brown. Headlines used two words ‘unharmed’ and ‘teenager’, looking at the history of how America reports about Black males in particularly it reveals that this was very significant. Local communities and network communities on Twitter were able to not only shape the facts of the coverage but also the framing of coverage had ramifications in the future. The Black Lives Matter movement, then went on to achieve changes in government policies in areas such as the justice system and Police Brutality, even lead to the resignation of Darren Wilson. Through the analysis of the Republican and Democratic Party platforming 2016, compared to previous years Republicans and Democratic’ hardly focused on race or equality. However, in 2016, we saw a surge in the focus both Parties placed on race, equality and the Criminal Justice System. This was largely due to the attention raised by Black Lives Matter using Twitter. This reveals that Twitter is the new platform for policy making because it allows people who think alike to come together and fight for what they believe is right just through one click. Hence the influence of Twitter in the modern world is incomprehensible.

Besides, we used to rely on a few organizations, but they could not cover everything in the world. Also, in countries where information is really controlled by the governments, it’s very easy for them to identify who reporters are and therefore they can manipulate information. However social media like Twitter has made everyone connected in one way or another. It is easy for people to share their views and opinions with one tweet. People no longer must rely on a fixed network that fails to report on everything, since we can now tap into a network of millions of people sharing instantly on Twitter, on what’s happening. We now have a better understanding of other people’s experience and perspective. This reveals that just looking at facts leads to manipulation, for instance, BBC News constantly bombards us with facts about terrorist attacks and the Criminal Justice System. However, through social networks like Twitter, you can begin to see a very different picture. It is easy for an oppressive State to control a few reporters, but they cannot control hundreds of thousands of them, not to say Millions. This was highlighted In the Arab Spring, which was a cycle opening event for social media. It no longer mattered that information channels were controlled by the government, because people using Twitter through mobile phones were able to communicate and share news to the rest of the world. Therefore, it is fair to say that Twitter has given power to the people to use their voice and speak up on injustice to change unfair policies.

Continuously, it is revealed that 9/10 videos watched during the 2008 Presidential campaign that mentioned Obama and McCain were produced by citizens trying to influence each other’s decision. Twitter can also be used as a strong platform for revolution. This, in turn, affects policymaking because the government is forced to alter its policies to best suit the people or it will keep the country in turmoil. It was demonstrated in Iran and Columbia, were the citizens revolted and openly spoke out on their political views. In the wake of this Oscar Morales started a Twitter page to raise awareness to these issues. In just two days they gathered the support of more than 10,000 followers. Just a month after this act 12 million took to the streets in solidarity in cities around the world. For this reason, it is fair to suggest that Twitter is the new platform for policy making because all politics is now viral, and governments can be held accountable due to platforms like Twitter.

As well as this, Since December 29th, 2016 Donald Trump has tweeted 221 times as the President-elect. Questions have been raised, are these tweets followed by action? There are fears about Trump conducting foreign policy over twitter. For instance, the opening travelling between Cuba and the US initiated by President Obama two years ago is something that is now in jeopardy. On November 28th, 2016, Trump threatened to destroy the relationship, tweeting “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the US as a whole, I will terminate deal”. It’s petrifying to think we are about to descend into a world where foreign policy is condemned within 140 characters. 140 characters cannot possibly describe the impact that a new shot down of relations with Cuba would have on America’s broader security interest in central and South America. Trump has gone on to tweet 16 times threatening to press the nuclear button against North Koreas Kim Jon. Although this is worrying, nevertheless we cannot deny the impact of Twitter in forming foreign policy.

Furthermore, it can be argued that the last few years have revealed how influential Twitter is as a platform for policymaking. This was revealed in Turkey where the State banned Twitter, US headlines called that action the modern day “Book Burning” and I agree with this position. This is because I believe Turkey banning Twitter was a political move and it got quickly rejected by the Supreme Court who believed that it wasn’t constitutional because it is against freedom of speech. However, during the ban people completely defied it. In the first day of the ban, Twitter in Turkey sent more tweets than ever before historically. Despite the government's persistence on blocking Twitter, the public kept finding new ways to access the social networking site. This was significant for policy making because it represented freedom for the people, the fact that they could choose to act into their own hands and defy the States authority.

In addition to this, it cannot be denied that the world of government is changing because of the complexity of society that is now becoming apparent. This has policy implications for the government in terms of dealing with these issues. As a result, the speed of policy response is much faster and the driver of that is the increasing use of social networks like Twitter; people now have access to information, meaning that governments are being driven to respond more quickly to people’s needs.

On the other hand, some disagree with the view that Twitter is the new platform for policymaking. Instead, they put forward the argument that major News networks such as CNN have a huge impact on the conduct of the State and policy making, this is known as the CNN effect. Those who support the CNN effect theory maintain that the extent, depth and speed of the new global media have created a new species of effect, qualitatively different from those that preceded them. We can see this in the BBC News in its coverage of the war on ISIS, bringing images and issues to the immediate forefront of British political consciousness and beyond. The effect of this has proved to be very significant because real-time News coverage has led to immediate public awareness and scrutiny of strategic decisions and military operations. It can’t be denied that the News media plays a pivotal role in policy making, however, we can see the role of Twitter in this. Going back to the example of Britain and ISIS, when the British government decided to bomb ISIS, there was a backlash on Twitter, with thousands of people tweeting how disgusted they feel about the British government. Therefore, the information, revolution and spread of Twitter through the internet accelerates the policy-making process, requiring a faster tempo of decision and action.

In conclusion, it cannot be denied that the statement is valid for stating that Twitter is the new platform for policymaking. This is direct because Twitter is viewed as a network where you can make your voice heard. The public doesn’t only have access to the following politicians but also the means to communicate with them. Twitter has given the power back to the people because the public can now report on events they’ve seen immediately, which leads to creating awareness. This awareness is what allows the public to influence policymaking like we saw in the case of Black Lives Matter. Awareness creates a joint consensus, with members of the public across the globe which coerces the government to create a change for the people. Although there are some minor problems that may come with the use of Twitter, such as the ideological control of media conglomerates. However, these are relative claims with no real evidence. Which is why I believe that Twitter is the new platform for policy making because there are clear examples and evidence of how Twitter has been significant in the policy-making process.