Social Media In Presidential Elections

The main sources of media today do not include fireside chats like the ones that President Roosevelt started but they do include the internet, television, radio, and newspapers, which combined, offer voters various ways to gather their information about political candidates. The 2016 presidential election is being looked at differently than previous elections because social media is helping candidates take over control of the polls. Because of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snap Chat, which promote candidates in many ways on each site, candidates in the current election, have been much more in the public eye than those in the past. Furthering their promotion is the fact that these sites also allow people to post …show more content…
Six years ago, there was much less internet advertising than there is today. People thought that having no limit to campaign spending on television advertising would be devastating to public interest. The result, however, was that this led candidates to campaign more via the internet. Today’s election campaigns still use TV and radio advertising but those advertisements are being used less and less because most advertising is now on the internet and social media. Most American voters own cellphones and computers that give them access to media throughout the day. Campaign companies now can use free, or less expensive advertising than TV advertising. Cellphones and media are contributing to voter popularity in many ways throughout the day, while with television, the watcher has to have free time to sit down and just watch the TV (Cary). With people constantly holding and using cellphones, they are usually only a touch away from finding or seeing information about candidates and campaigns. Also, the amount of time one spends educating himself about campaign issues in the election may be longer with social media and internet than the length of time of a television