Week 9: Politics, politics everywhere.

When you think of internet and politics, there's definitely that one politician that comes to mind. Who else, but Mr Barrack Obama! 

We've gone through in class how he used websites and social media to connect with his voters. Because of his viral marketing strategies, many politicians have followed his footsteps.

In my opinion, young people are not as apathetic as before because politics and politicians are now using social media to reach out to younger generations. Sure, we use traditional media too but we are frequently using social media as opposed to traditional media. The younger generation spend a lot of time on these sites. In a recent survey, most Americans spend an average of 23 hours per week being online and using social media. (Business News Daily, 2013) That's like almost one day of the week just spending online!

(by the way, it could be more. We're just unaware of it.)

Young people also want information instantaneously. We go by the mentality, "if i want it now, i want it NOW". It's because we ALWAYS have information at out fingertips (ie; google)

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. We want to always be on the know, we always want to be updated and we do not want to lose out. So when politicians tap on this social media where they constantly update about their activities, young people will most likely follow them. (and follow their politicians

One such example in local context is MP Baey Yam Keng who constantly updates his instagram and take "selfies" of his own. he also has other social media sites, such as Facebook. According to him, "it could be useful as a channel of engagement with the public" (Stomp, 2013) Here is a screenshot of his Instagram.

Also, I think the younger generation wants to get personal to the politicians. When they feel that they are close to the politicians and their queries gets answered by them personally, it definitely makes them (the people) more confident of their politicians and the politicians are favoured by them.

Therefore, social media has changed how we view politics, esp to the younger generation.

Till then,
A.