Is social media shaping world politics and is populist agenda now more important than democrasy?

raduv1

Bit heavy for general chat I know , putting this in P&E where members own personal agendas are rife and to the fore was not the place as I wanted a more ( good luck ) measured approach .

It's simple really , has social media overtaken political debate ? Is it now so powerful that it is used as a weapon for influence and power over debate and discussion and more importantly the truth .

It is a powerful tool , to powerful perhaps where regulations and oversight are lacking for the clicks and clicks only as that free speech we crave and live by =advertising revenue for social media , so why regulate it , right ?

rousetafarian

This IS a P&E destined thread I’m afraid

raduv1

Yup I know , could the forum mods give it a lil chance for a wider audience as at its heart it is social media first over politics .

Bl4ckGryph0n

In my opinion social media is more immediate in nature, but not that different  compared to sharing opinions and writing into news papers, and how news papers had the power to lobby and spread opinions.

There have always been platforms to share opinions and discuss topics; be it in societies, speakers corner, talks about foreign travels, even news in cinemas.

Instant acces and global reach are different, but the rest including the opinions is not that different I think.

raduv1

That is ok but a certain POTUS uses it as an official mouthpiece for the WH that the WH then backs up as policy  ?

How can one have disscussion on social media when the one posting holds all the cards in the deck ?  How can one engage in discussion when it is blocked from you for disagreeing ?  but that message remains  out there to be used ?

The Dude

What you're describing is no different to before we even had social media.

Before twitter politicians used television, before television they used newspapers, before newspapers they used cannonballs.

It's not so bad, considering.

nheather

I think Social Media is a double edged sword.  On the one hand it is great that information can be distributed easily and seen by all (most) without it being unfairly blocked.

But on the other hand it has become so powerful that it can be used to bully and scare companies, organisation and governments into directions that are not always sensible.

Cheers,

Nigel

raduv1

I don't agree as people now only listening to " his masters Voice "  using social media to activly suppress news outlets that disagree as being fake news .

I'm not talking party politics here or biased news outlets that indeed do have regulations to follow .  

Without regulation,  social media has become real weapon for only one voice .

The Dude

Stop listening then.

Robbowal

The problem with social media is there is no filter on it, its a pure brain fart moment thrown out to the whole world and when its said there is no unsaying it.
I was always told before sending any e mail get up walk away and come back 5 min later and re read it before sending it out (this has saved my bacon on more than one occasion, angry emails cost jobs)
The other issue is it causes a lot of false bravado, think mobile keyboard warriors (i have more followers than you so your opinion doesn't matter types) and as has been said before it gets used as a rock to bash companies into submission even when said company may be in the right, they have to bow down to save face that very instant, and even then the will get lambasted for doing so by others.