Written by Assim AL MOUSSAOUI in partial fulfillment of the Media Studies Course Requirements. Fez, Morocco.
Introduction :
As the title suggests, the video revolves around social media and its influence in the politics arena. The best way to define social media is to break it down. Media is an instrument from which people can get information or entertainment, like a newspaper or a TV. Therefore, social media would be a social instrument of communication. Succinctly said, social media are media for social interaction. Unlike traditional media, social media, which is one facet of the new media, allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Traditional media is a one-way communication where you can read a newspaper or listen to a news report on television, but you have very limited ability to give your thoughts on the matter. With the advent of digital technology and the internet, it became a lot easier for people to create their own content and interact with their friends or colleagues. Hence, Social media is a two-way communication that gives you, as a reader or a receiver, the ability to communicate and have a say in what you’re interested in. Social media have five characteristics: participation, conversation, community and connectedness. For participation, people can participate in discussions about different social and economic issues either by podcasting, posting a written comment or by video-taping their responses. Social media allows a two-way conversation. Creating communities of like-minded people in almost a blink of an eye is a landmark of social media. Facebook and Twitter are cases in point of social networks. Connectedness simply means the ability to be connected to your friends via these social networks. It is about the availability of such connection.
Description of the Video:
The video discusses the role of social media in the political change in an interactive and eye-catching format. The producers of this video capitalized on the latest technology with high quality images to convey the gist of the issue. In addition to interviewing specialists, the voice-over technique was perfectly utilized to summarize the ideas being presented. This technique is powerful when it juxtaposes with and superimposes onto relevant information or pictures, which was the case in this video. The two techniques being resorted to in this video help put the viewers into context of the subject matter. They’re very effective in purveying messages.
Though the video is three minutes long, it is so rich in terms of the content and the ideas being presented. The video tackles the issue of social media and its seminal role in the political field by interviewing people of authority on the subject matter. Belonging to different backgrounds like marketing and social activism, the interviewees help provide a full and clear picture of the issue at hand. The video is comprised of four basic interviews with different specialists and experts in the field of the new media. The first interviewee is called Don Tapscott, who is the chairman of nGenera Insight, an organization that analyzes and assesses social networks websites for the benefit of advertising companies. He states that people now can participate in the economy or in social debates in ways were unthinkable of before. He concludes that social media is an excellent platform for active citizenship. The second speaker is Craing Heintzman, a development associate in World Wide Web Foundation. The latter is a non-profit association which seeks to help and empower web users. He touches upon the idea that social networkers can create their own content and spread it across the world; as being one source of information and news. The fourth interviewee is Christopher Berry, Marketing Science director. Berry sketches out the unlimited advantages of social media in enhancing democracy and individual participation in the political process. Finally, Megan Warby, a senior consultant in Argyle Comm. company. She elucidates the power of social media in shaping the political change by giving the example of a group of Ontarions, in Canada, forming a coalition on Facebook to nullify the government’s licensing regulations.
Analysis:
The video stimulates a very thorny issue concerning the role of social media in changing the status quo. Social media has opened a dialogue between those who are in the saddle and commoners. Its value is apparent to those in political office, whose work and very professional survival hinges on the needs and perceptions of their constituents. As the video suggests, government officials can use social media to get citizens involved. The social web is ripe with opportunities for candidates and office holders alike to connect with voters, foster transparency, and even spar with opponents in the same ways they have been in the traditional media for hundreds of years. The video illustrates the case of president Barack Obama as being the most successful example in capitalizing on social media to create a unique relationship with his supporters. The question we need to ask here is why do politicians resort to social media in their political campaigns? The answer is straightforward: As more people live more of their lives in the social web, it becomes an important space for them to share their views and interpret what is going on in the world around them. Politicians rely on these views to construct successful campaigns which would appeal to people and ensure their engagement as well as their loyalty.
Another reason for politicians’ growing interest in social media is the public’s ability to coordinate a massive and rapid response towards current issues. The video hinted at the Ontarions’ demonstrations as a result of a facebook call to protest against the government’s new licensing regulations. I deem it also essential to bring to the fore the role social media is playing in the revolutions across the Arab world. Toppling Mubarak and Ben Ali has marked the utility of social media in forcing out dictators.
The video also raises the issue of creating the news. Social media has revolutionized the way news is communicated. A blogger might get a scoop on an issue ahead world renowned TV stations. As is the case with the Arab revolutions, Al jazeera and CNN resort to videos and pictures of citizen journalists, not from their own professional staff. The ubiquity of social media in our lives is empowering people. Events akin to protests against a political regime can not find its way to the state owned TV stations. Thus, social media is providing a margin of freedom and news reporting.
Social media has numerous advantages for active citizenship. First, It easily helps laymen broadcast their opinions and have their say in what happens around them. Second, it helps mobilize people for the common good by canvassing issues from different perspectives. Third, social media makes it easier to donate for NGOs that struggle to improve people’s life conditions. Last but not least, it increases political engagement of the commoners.
Evaluation:
As far as the evaluation section is concerned, it is very seminal to mention that the essay is going to evaluate the content of the video in terms of ideas and organization. First of all, the video communicates successfully the idea that social media shapes and changes attitudes, ideas, values, and lifestyles of people through the use of easy means such as blogs and social networks. Another important point mentioned in the video is the one which addresses the role of social media. Social Media plays an active role by giving information that helps people to be responsible citizens in a democratic manner. The notion of citizen journalism is a very striking point in the video in the sense that it is directed to those people who create Blogs, Spaces, Facebook, etc in order to produce information that challenge the mainstream media such as newspapers and TV channels. The importance of the new media is that it acts as a political refuge of oppressed people who find a vast room for freedom of expression. In other words, any ideas that can not have a place in mainstream media resort to new media which allow a considerable space for freedom. Freedom is a privilege in new media, but the issue is that people should be responsible for what they say because there is no censorship. People should contribute positively and say what they think is right and logical.
The video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrczoLm7Es
