Introduction
Social networks are credited for many positive things that have taken place in the last decade. The networks largely depend on the internet as a platform for communication. The networks bring people from all global locations to relate in one way or the other. Friends and family members can be reached in a short time upon the click of a button.
Main Body
Inherently, social networks offer people the opportunity to interact virtually. The emergence of the internet was a significant development in human advancement. The internet has had considerable influences on social setup and the manner in which politics are conducted.
The influence of social media on social identities
Social networks are identified as an effective method for maintaining contact with family and friends. The networks enable individuals to correspond regularly and candidly than the individuals would away from the internet. The most famous of these social networks include Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has more than 900 million users globally.
Regardless of the huge number of users, academicians have just started to comprehend how individuals utilize social networks for interaction. They are also studying how diverse types of communication in social networks influence the emotions of social bond and psychosomatic well-being.
To some extent, how we handle social relations in social networks is similar to the way people develop and maintain social links offline. The necessity for relations is a primary and fundamental objective underlying how people behave.
Social networking involves two aspects namely direct and indirect actions. Direct actions entail messaging, chatting, posting on walls, commenting, tagging snaps, tweeting, re-tweeting and liking content of friends in ones social circles. Indirect actions in this context regard the user reading the content of a group member or friend without commenting.
It also includes viewing a friend or group member’s profile, tweets and updates. Majority of social network users instigate a series of direct and indirect actions once they use social network sites. In order to maintain a relation with friends and group members, people ensure that they post updates and tweets regularly. This action captures the attention of friends and followers1. When other users comment, like, re-tweet the content, the person’s motivation to create social identity is met.
Apparently, when such updates are ignored or attract little attention from other users, the persons often feels that they are losing their social identity. Thirty-one percent of individuals who have managed to create social identity on social networks have been observed to post content more than thrice in a day2.
The contribution of social networking in the creation of social identity has not been fully explored. However, the benefits of these relationships are evident as the number of users increase. Observation from the users of social network indicates that those who frequently use the networks as a way of connecting with friends and families feel more connected to them.
Such individuals have been observed to have the urge to increase the volume of networking with new friends. Individuals who initiate direct actions stand a higher chance of bridging (connecting with new friends), closer relationship with the current friends and followers, and higher self esteem3.
This makes them to have social identity amongst the users of social networks. Conversely, individuals who rarely initiate direct actions are observed to have diminished social identity. They experience lower self-esteem. These individuals are largely passive consumers of activities taking place in social networks.
They mainly refresh news feed, explore friends’ tweets, status updates and are habitual viewers of others’ profiles. While this enhances the social identity of friends, the passive user’s social identity is not developed. It is common for users and followers to inquire about the whereabouts of the user with social identity when they fail to tweet or post updates.
Other researchers argue that even indirect actions help in fostering a feeling of linkage among users. A research conducted in Germany revealed that when people utilized tweets and updates to give information regarding themselves to other users, they felt linked to others in the social network.
It has been indicated that other users are cautious when selecting the person to follow on Twitter and send friend requests on Facebook for dread of being declined.
The influence of social network sites on political participation
Social network sites (SNSs) have massive weight concerning the current direction of politics. In this regard, politicians recognize the critical role played by social media while seeking elective politics. Using SNSs, politicians have been able to develop new tactics that augment their political influence and participation4. The politicians in a number of ways utilized social network sites in political performance.
First, social network sites act as lines of inquiry to gain opinions of the public. For instance, social media played a significant role in the selection of efficient leaders through the Apprentice program that enjoyed mass following from social media fans. Through this program, the public is capable of choosing the contestants with leadership qualities.
In the modern political economy, studies contend that voters are unlikely to support unknown politicians. As a result, the candidates often turn to social networks such as twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as well as Google plus to sell their policies and ideologies5. Further, through augmented coverage of the social media, politicians are capable of increasing their appeal to the public hence prerequisite for election victories.
Through social media, several scandals have been unearthed in many established democracies. For instance, in the Polish Rywingate scandal, the government intermediary offered the exposed social media an informal deal to the director of Gazeta Wyborcza concerning the alterations in legislations to purchase TV network.
Social media has changed the way politicians conduct their political campaigns. For instance, in the past, the political class consisted of self-promoting officers who concentrated on achieving media coverage through skills and ambitions.
Conversely, there were politicians whose interests revolved around legislative agendas at the expense of seeking media coverage6.
In fact, the analysis of the modern political economy across different parts of the world exhibits that media coverage is essential in undertakings involving political processes. Moreover, most political activities such as parliamentary proceedings are influenced by the postulated importance of social media in delivering news to different people across the globe.
Social networks have been critical in the success of various revolutionary movements and political upheavals through the dissemination of information to large numbers of recipients7. For instance, the success of Ukrainian Orange Revolution in 2004 depended on social media that published news reaching over two million people daily.
The Serbian government failed to crack down Belgrade B-92 radio station since the station could still broadcast news online through its social network handles. In essence, the growth of social media among public as well as the latest exchanges occurring between social media and politics has been imperative in the creation of solution to radical repercussions.
The relationship between social media and politics enhances efficient coexistence among different players in the political processes. For instance, social media was critical in the transformations from the authoritarian regimes to the liberal democratic processes across different parts of the globe. For example, social media was significant in influencing the impeachment trial of Philippine president in 2001.
With forwarded text messages in social media, over a million protesters in Manila forced out a national leader through the coordination of swift response that compelled the lawmakers to provide evidence against the president8.
The unprecedented increase in the use of internet since the early nineties have made social network sites become part of different players in the society including activists, citizens and governments.
The increasing complexity of communication has led to the augmented levels of participation in the decision-making processes by members of the society. The ouster of Spanish prime minister in 2004 was a result of messages spread through social media.
The effectiveness of social media as a facilitator of public spheres
With the development of social media, the way of communication has been greatly modified. The utilization of social network sites enables effective engagement of the political class with the community. First, through the anonymity of social media agents, the public are capable of effectively articulating and commenting on issues of concern9.
In addition, the politicians are provided with the opportunity for communicating their messages to the public. Secondly, social media offers assortment of information to the public. The richness and diversity of information enable governments and politicians to source crucial data that are critical in the decision-making processes.
Actually, social media effectively provides an educative forum where members of the public converse with political leaders through articulation as well as coming up with ideas on solving the pressing public issues.
Through social media, participatory problem-solving collaborations are made possible while the state and public spheres are capable of developing symbiotic relationships in solving collective problems such as insecurity, environmental degradation and education concerns10.
The use of social media provides an efficient forum for democratic governance where the state incorporates the public directly to discuss government policy agendas.
In other words, social media offers citizens an opportunity for criticizing government policies. Social media enables the accessibility of information and trademarks since it is time saving and flexible. In principle, it enhances online retrieval of critical information relating to governance.
Additionally, social media apart from offering face-to-face engagements expands the coverage of citizens across different parts. Thus, the effectiveness of social media results from its provision of multiple audiences and platforms through which citizens can air views concerning governance and politics11. Social media has achieved remarkable successes in initiating political processes12.
In general, social media changes the political society through the establishment of communication networks meant to achieve change objectives13. The protests ranging from revocation of fake election outcome in Moldavia in 2009 to the Arab Spring in 2011 received successes due to the power of social media14.
Besides, social media has led to the achievement of Marshall McLuhan’s global village concept through the advancement of information transfer and expertise to large numbers of receivers.
It is estimated that more than thirty-two percent of the global population get regular access to the internet. The modern mobile technology has contributed to the increase in the usage of social networks. In fact, social media networks are now more than a mere stage for essential communication.
It is common for individuals to check social sites as the last thing when retiring to bed and the first thing in the morning. Social sites are continuously becoming a strong force15. Search engines will be stricter to social sites that fail to regulate the content uploaded by the users.
Social sites will change the way people network based on the rules and inclination in diverse countries. Such was the case in Japan when the country was hit by Tsunami. During this period, twitter created ‘lifeline’. The feature suggests to the users about the appropriate government handles to follow in case of a catastrophe. This trend is likely to take root in the future.
Diverse services such as the Facebook’s business networking and LinkedIn in Japan will emerge. In order to create enhanced social communication, social network sites will provide grouping contact services that will allow users to restructure and declog feeds. The service providers will give users further access to their preferred account configurations including applications, elements and topics.
Conclusion
Social network websites will attract more people as economies improve, population increase, living standards improve, and the internet become more accessible. In fact, it will influence social interactions and politics. It is engrained as part of lifestyle in the modern users. The emergence of huge social network platforms will become more popular in future than ever before.
Bibliography
Boyd, Danah and Ellison, Nicole. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13, no.3 (2008): 210-230.
Boyd, Danah. “Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” Youth, Identity and Digital Media, 56, no. 5 (2008): 119-142.
Hoffner, Cynthia. “Parents’ Responses to Television Violence: The Third-Person Perception, Parental Mediation, and Support for Censorship.” Media Psychology 4, no.3 (2002): 231–52.
Howard, Peter. Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media during the Arab Spring? Project on Information Technology and Political Islam. New York: Longman, 2011. Web.
Johnstone, Lee. “Facebook: Making Social Connections.” Advances in Consumer Research 8, no.2 (2009): 234-236.
Kingdon, John. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. New York: Longman, 1995.
Malaterre, Ariane and Rothbaard, Nancy. “When Worlds Collide in Cyberspace: How Boundary Work in Online Social Networks Impacts Professional Relationships.” Academy of Management Review 38, no.4 (2013): 645-669.
Mallan, Kerry. “Look at me! Look at me! Self-Representation and Self-Exposure through Online Networks.” Digital Culture and Education 1, no. 1 (2009): 51-66.
Mazzoleni, Gianpietro. “Mediatization of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy?” Political Communication 16, no. 3 (2001): 247–61.
Russell, David. Can Facebook be used to maintain Meaningful Social Relationships? New York: Sage, 2012. Web.
Sheafer, Tamir. “Production Assets, New Opportunities, and Publicity for Legislators: A Study of Israeli Knesset Members.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 29, no. 4 (2004): 611–30.
Tewksbury, David. “Preparations for Y2K: Revisiting the Behavioral Component of the Third-Person Effect.” Journal of Communication 54, no. 1 (2004):138–55.
Young, Karl. Back to the Future – Where will Social Media be in 2015? Socialnomics. New York: Sage, 2013. Web.
Footnotes
- Danah Boyd, “Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life,” Youth, Identity and Digital Media, 56, no. 5 (2008): 119-142.
- David Russell, Can Facebook used to maintain meaningful social relationships? (New York: Sage, 2012).
- Kerry Mallan, “Look at me! Look at me! Self-Representation and Self-Exposure through Online Networks,” Digital Culture and Education 1, no. 1 (2009): 51-66.
- Cynthia Hoffner, “Parents’ Responses to Television Violence: The Third-Person Perception, Parental Mediation, and Support for Censorship,” Media Psychology 4, no. 3 (2002): 233
- Tamir Sheafer, “Production Assets, New Opportunities, and Publicity for Legislators: A Study of Israeli Knesset Members,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 29, no. 4 (2004): 612.
- John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (New York: Longman, 1995), 105.
- David Tewksbury, “Preparations for Y2K: Revisiting the Behavioral Component of the Third-Person Effect,”Journal of Communication 54, no. 1 (2004):139.
- Danah Boyd, “Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life,” Youth, Identity and Digital Media, 56, no. 5 (2008): 119-142.
- Gianpietro Mazzoleni, “Mediatization of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy?” Political Communication 16, no. 3 (2001): 247.
- John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies (New York: Longman, 1995), 105.
- Gianpietro Mazzoleni, “Mediatization of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy?” Political Communication 16, no. 3 (2001): 247.
- David Tewksbury, “Preparations for Y2K: Revisiting the Behavioral Component of the Third-Person Effect,”Journal of Communication 54, no. 1 (2004):139.
- Gianpietro Mazzoleni, “Mediatization of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy?” Political Communication 16, no. 3 (2001): 247.
- Peter Howard, Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media during the Arab Spring? Project on Information Technology and Political Islam (New York: Longman, 2011).
- Karl Young, Back to the Future – Where will Social Media be in 2015? Socialnomics, (New York: Sage). Web.