The Role of Emerging Social Media Platforms in Politics

Abstract

The increased use of social media has played a valuable part in the re-vamping of the political landscape, especially over the last decade, where its influence has culminated in the implementation of digital strategy in campaigns and public outreach. There is a substantial amount of research available on the influence of social media upon politics. However, the emergence of new social media platforms continues to be a vibrant area of research, not only in politics but communications and society as a whole. This essay will focus upon the more recent social media platforms in relation to politics and its wider public engagement; how they are used, to what impact on political discourse and the public, and what they represent for the future (A Ayankoya, 2013). Social media provide opportunities for political communication to flourish in ways that differ from traditional political communication modes. However as a platform, it changes and evolves at an extremely rapid pace. This essay provides a landscape of recent research on social media in politics as it stands today, and sets out a cornucopia of original case studies to start to fill a pressing need for more research on the impact of these newer emerging platforms on politics. The applications of social media platforms play a big part in campaigns and political parties however, they are not just tools and how people perceive and interact with them matters. Compact case studies to give an actual insight into how these platforms work and are used will also be assessed, before moving onto a wider consideration of what they represent in terms of campaigns, impacts on wider public engagement, ethics, as well as future projections (Battista, 2024).

 Keywords emerging platforms, social media, political communication, public engagement, digital strategy, political discourse, case studies.