Social Media’s Influence on Policy Issues
To be honest, various types of
media are used to sell everything from baby bottles to drones. We live in a society where everything has to
be right to the point and visual. Social
media provides up with instant news, instant feedback, and instant
gratification. It can also serve a very
important purpose in the media. That purpose
is to relay important information in a relatively short period of time and at
times receive immediate feedback about an idea or event. Media can also provide live interactions as
they are happening. Introducing a policy
with a form of media would bring much attention and interest to an issue. This attention can spawn resources such as
people, funds, and supporters.
The two forms of social media that
would garner attention for support would be Instagram and Facebook. The reasons for these are the high amounts of
registered user. Instagram has more than
400 million users per month and Facebook has over 1 billion users (Mainka,
Hartmann, Stock, & Peters, 2014). These
forms of media have real time interaction capabilities that would allow for
immediate feedback and input. The
audience for the would be reached by both would be varied. Current trends show an increased interest in
teens into policies and civic organizations (Raine, Smith, Schlzman, Brady, &
Verba, 2012). The audience would include
individuals from 18 years of age and above.
The demographics would also include parents with small children, single
parents, and married couples interested in starting a family. These individuals would have a vested interest
in an early childhood intervention policy.
One benefit of using social media
would be the ability to reach millions of people simultaneously without the
cost of printing or paying for television or radio time. According to Rain, Smith, Schlzman, Brady,
& Verba (2012) over 50 percent of all demographics use Instagram and
Facebook. The challenge is that once the
attention is received on the issue, how can the individuals attention be
maintained so that action can be taken.
Reference
Mainka, A., Hartmann, S., Stock,
W. G., & Peters, I. (2014, January). Government and social media:
A case study of 31 informational world cities. In 2014 47th Hawaii
International Conference
on System Sciences (pp. 1715-1724).
IEEE.
Rainie, L., Smith, A.,
Schlozman, K. L., Brady, H., & Verba, S. (2012). Social media and political
engagement. Pew Internet & American Life Project, 19.
