#2012election | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

marvellousmediamusings-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Social Media, Politics and what it all Memes.

It is widely accepted in current society that social media has come to play an irrefutably significant role within the domain of campaigning and politics. With Politicians increasingly using Social Networking sites and Social media platforms as a springboard to which they can launch their online political career and the general public using it as a platform in which they can express their political beliefs and opinions, it is no surprise that the online sphere plays such a crucial role in politics and how politicians are portrayed. This blog post shall delve into how social media platforms are used within the political arena and shall investigate appropriate examples such as the American presidential elections.

Marketing practices for political purposes increasingly rely on social media platforms and internet memes to create interest, generate word of mouth, catch the public’s attention and instill a call to action (Ryan, Emerson and Robertson, 2014). Despite the political sphere relying on marketing well before the web launched, social media and social networking sites have added a new dimension to election campaigns (Pătruţ and Pătruţ, 2014). More than ever the political sphere embraces slogans, politicians become brands and the whole election is summed up in taglines, snapshots, and unique selling propositions to engage with the public (Pătruţ and Pătruţ, 2014). This was clearly demonstrated in the 2008 American Presidential Elections when presidential candidate at the time, Barrack Obama had the most expensive online electoral campaign in history with an expenditure on media of roughly 711 million dollars (Pătruţ and Pătruţ, 2014). However, it is also the public that have tapped into social media to express their political beliefs (Shifman, 2015). Indeed, some individuals that their political opinions are best expressed via a means of communication that is accessible, humorous and can be shared; memes (Shifman, 2015).

During the 2008 American election run my friend and I , who happened to support different candidates used to send each other memes that tore apart the others candidate and ones that promoted our own. This was a humorous and light-hearted way for each of us to make our political stance known and express our personal views on the election proceedings.

A meme can be described as a selected image, specific piece of text or a snippet of video that is adapted to a specific situation, person or event and is typically humorous in nature (Shifman, 2015). Most importantly a meme is copied, reposted and spread, albeit with minor variations to suit the current situation, at a rapid pace (Shifman, 2015). Meme culture lends itself to making a point within the sphere of social networks (Elliott, 2017). Finding its success in its easy ability to be copied, altered and reproduced rapidly with other individuals who maintain a similar belief system and mindset with minimal transnational loss (Elliott, 2017). Indeed, it has been observed that memes have the capacity to have their meaning diffused depending on the individual however they still manage to reflect and shape general social mindsets (Elliott, 2017). Thus, the memes that garner the most success are not necessarily the most humorous nor are they the ones most easily reproduced, instead it is those that are most proficient in reflecting deep cultural and social structures (Elliott, 2017). The advantage of memes lies within the simplicity of their creation, the ease of their reproduction and their rapid transmission which results in creating an instantaneous community and which openly classifies those who choose to share the image as belonging to the same community (Elliott, 2017).

I have always been a huge fan of meme culture , something about how they have the ability to reduce even the most serious of subjects into something amusing intrigues me. However my favorite aspect is how they have the ability to unite my friends and I with the same message in a comedic way.

When viewed in an individual capacity, social media users usually operate under an anonymous guise, however collectively they can insert a novel and original dynamic into the political sphere which maintains the capacity to shift public opinion and shape agendas through paths that deviate around more mainstream media (McNair, 2017). Indeed, when memes and other forms of political content spread and go viral they have the potential to have a global impact (McNair, 2017). This can be demonstrated through the example of Russian President, Vladimir Putin who was depicted in a meme ‘riding’ a weasel. The effect and reaction were so severe that the government passed a law that made it a criminal offense within Russia to use the internet as a platform to defame any public figures (McNair, 2017).

Another way in which the sway of the media is apparent within the realm of politics is through the 2012 USA elections (McNair, 2017). Nicknamed by the public as the ‘meme election’, the election period saw the rapid emergence of memes pertaining to the campaign and organically became a mechanism for initiating conversation about campaign events and the candidates (McNair, 2017,6). It can be argued that the numerous memes started to represent a very current and real-time translation of the happenings that were deemed by the public as the most interesting (McNair, 2017). Although the entire campaign was flooded with memes throughout, one of the most popular and prolific was depicting a scene in which 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, when asked to address issues surrounding gender inequality, answered with an anecdote that implied there were “Binders full of Women” who were ready to take over positions in cabinet (Genz and Küchler, 2015,15). Although the comment, when viewed in isolation, could be viewed as a sincere attempt on his behalf to address the issue of gender inequality, the reaction of the public was instantaneous (Genz and Küchler, 2015.) Many individuals took the work binder to its root verb and represented Romney as someone who seeks to bind women to a secondary and silences status in society and expressed their outrage through an onslaught of memes (Genz and Küchler, 2015).

Most importantly, however, the meme concerning the specific situation was said to have played a role within altering voter turn-out patterns that year. In a study performed by Omero and McGuiness (2012,1) it was discovered that it was women’s voices that determined the overall outcome of the election. Thus, the argument here, is not that the published meme itself changed the patterns of the election but rather that its creation and dispersal throughout the online community did make a perceptible difference in facets such as awareness and political participation (Omero and McGuinness, 2015).

This very notion has been applied in my experience with regards to South Africa’s current President, Jacob Zuma. On many occasion the internet has exploded with memes that ridicule and show the president in a negative light often poking fun at what he has done or said in front of the public (Shange, 2017) . Indeed my friends and I primarily kept track with what was going on during the State of the Nation Address that occurred on the 9th of February 2017 through a slew of memes that were splashed all over twitter throughout the event (Shange, 2017). The memes proved both hugely entertaining as well as mildly informative to what was occurring and was our preferred way of finding out what was being said and the events that unfolded.

However, memes are not the only way through which politics uses the social networking sphere indeed the success of the election campaigns were based upon well-thought out and executed online presences which included a wide-range of online community’s weblogs and online interactive features that become central hot-spots for individuals to tune into political and election- related news (Sloan and Quan-Haase, 2017). This was demonstrated through a number of examples. The very popular online community Reddit hosted multiple forums in which discussions around political and partisan issues took place which also included a specific space which fell under the subreddit of /r/2012elections (Sloan and Quan-Haase, 2017). Twitter also played a large role by introducing an official election account which went by the handle of @TwitterGovernment and over and above designed a unique index page that chartered topics around the election that were trending and compared the rising popularity of both electoral candidates (Genz and Küchler, 2015). Both Google and YouTube launched, respectively, their own dedicated sections in which visitors could have access to voter demographics, news updates and other relevant information (Genz and Küchler, 2015).

It has been clearly demonstrated that media is pervasive in so many facets of life- certainly, within the political sphere is no different. Social media has been shown to be a critical component that plays a crucial role in how the public view current political situations as well as offering a platform for users to express and share their opinions in a simple and instantaneous manner. In many ways a meme demonstrates this notion perfectly as it works as a testament to the fact that individuals and communities found within an online environment can make fast-paced actions in response to real life events. They also demonstrate just how simple it is for certain content to be completely manipulated by the user and thus taken and often understood out of context. Although all memes do not serve to ignite serious and detailed political discussion the fact remains that some have. Indeed, there are many social media networks that have been discussed which offer a platform in which opinions can be shared. The opinions and other forms of expression have been shown to have the potential to direct conversations to political issues as seen through the example of the 2012 presidential elections. It can be argued that they also may serve as permanent and lasting reminders of the issues that were faced pertaining to a specific time period; while the physical memories may fade and be forgotten over time, digital memories exist forever.

Bibliography

Elliott, A. 2017. Medievalism, Politics and Mass Media; Appropriating the middle-ages in the 21st Century. Cambridge:Boydell and Brewer,166-170.

Genz, J. and Küchler, U. 2015. Metamorphoses of (new) media. London: Cambridge Scholars Publishing,14-20.

McNair, B. 2017. An introduction to political communication. New York: Routledge, 56-58.

Omero, M. and McGuinness, T. 2015. How Women Changed the Outcome of the Election. Online. Retrieved 24 October,2017 from the World Wide Web:https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/GenderGap-31.pdf

Pătruţ, B. and Pătruţ, M. 2014. Social Media in Politics : Case Studies on Political Power of Social Media. New York: Springer,5-20.

Ryan, M., Emerson, L. and Robertson, B. 2014. The Johns Hopkins guide to digital media. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Shange, N. 2017. Zuma memes blossom on Twitter after #SONA2016. News 24. Online. Retrieved 1 November, 2017 from the World Wide Web: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/zuma-memes-blossom-on-twitter-after-sona2016-20160211.

Shifman, L.2015. Memes in digital culture. Cambridge: MIT Press,1-10.

Sloan, L. and Quan-Haase, A. 2017. The Sage handbook of social media research methods. Los Angeles: Sage,9-15.

#politics #media #mitt romney #ridingaweasel meme memeculture USpolitics

1 note · View note