Social media is everywhere in our lives today, from apps like Facebook, Instagram and twitter. Almost everyone has these apps and uses them probably every day. While there are some that choose to completely get rid of the apps, people can still be influenced by them in some ways. While no one particularly likes politics, unless of course you are in that field or want to work in it, it is undeniable that social media platforms do play a role in and in some ways can influence voter behavior. In this article by Dan Jasper, he talks about the impact social media has on politics. While the influence it considered minor it is till significant enough to be noticed. While social media has improved the way information flows, outreach and so on, he also claims that it increases political polarization, the spread of misinformation and it can cause people to get harassed. While there can be some good to social media, as you can see there are also some negative effects or influences that it can have on people. This article also discusses the ways that social media has affected and framed social issues that in turn also affect vies on politics. This article can also help us better understand the narrative paradigm, media ecology and the agenda-setting theory.

First and foremost, the narrative paradigm is “A theoretical framework that views narrative as the basis of all human communication.” (300). This means people use stories in order to communicate, and in social media personal stories can be used to influence views. Additionally, “…the narrative paradigm maintains that, armed with a bit of common sense, almost any of us can see the point of a good story and judge its merits as the basis for belief and action.” (301). We do not always judge things fully rationally and this maintains that we can believe a story if we think it is true or fits in with our beliefs. This claim also suggests that all that is needed to convince someone of a good argument is to tell a good story, facts and data are not needed in order to convince an audience. This also goes with narrative fidelity. Narrative fidelity is the “Congruence between values embedded in a message and what listeners regard as truthful and humane; the story strikes a responsive chord.” (302). Sometimes if we have had something happen to us that is similar to the story being told, we tend to believe it more. This can also be true if the story matches with our personal beliefs or values. If it does, we can be convinced that the narrative being told is in fact true.

Another important note is media ecology. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are all forms of media. Media is the “generic term for all human invented technology that extends the range speed, or channels of communication.” (310).  Social media platforms are just one of those channels we use to communicate.  These platforms also make different environments that we communicate in. These environments are called media ecology which is “the study of different personal and social environments created by the use of different communication.” (310).   Each form of communication can form different environments so this can affect what groups we communicate in. These environments can be active, political, aggressive and hold so many different views. Additionally, McLuhan claims that we are currently in the electronic age. When talking about the electronic age, McLuhan insists that we are “now in a global village. Electronic media brings us into contact with everyone, everywhere, instantaneously.” (315). We are able to connect with others across the world with little to no barriers. We can know about events that are going on in other countries and so on.

Another important topic to mention is agenda-setting and social media can play a role in it. According to the text the agenda-setting theory is “The basic hypothesis of the theory is this: Over time, the media agenda shapes the public agenda. Said differently, there’s a cause-and-effect relationship between what the news reports and how the public thinks about the world.” (368). Social media counts as one of these forms of media as it opens up so many more channels for us to receive information.  While it does have its merits there are also downsides that can cause misinformation to be spread. One of these forms is fake news. Fake news is “News articles that are intentionally and verifiably false and could mislead readers.” (374). You can see people all over social media believing false news, this is something that I have personally seen a lot on Facebook. Another important note to mention is the way that we can combine agendas to fit our preferences and worldviews.  Agenda melding is also mentioned and McCombs and Shaw claim that, “People like to spend time with those that who think like they do. The association between similarity and liking (see Chapter 9) extends to the media we choose. It’s also selective exposure because we’re only paying attention to ideas we find agreeable…” (376). We tend to expose ourselves to what we want to hear and see. This creates spaces were people come together with those of similar views.  The bad thing about this is that we are not exposed to other viewpoints because we avoid it.

The narrative paradigm can be used a lot when it comes to social media and politics.  There are several instances of people telling stories on social media. Many of these stories’ people can relate to and so they will believe.  One example mentioned in the article was the Black Lives Matter movement or even the Me Too movement.  Both of these social movements were all over social media and people were telling their stories on different platforms. There were also many people who had similar stories who could relate to what was being told. For example, say, someone was treated unfairly by the police and shares their story about it. There are people that have similar experiences, and that story will strike a chord with them. This is why these stories are believable to others because they can connect and relate to them. These are some of the reasons why these movements were so influential in politics and social media helped spread these stories.  These stories also caused political change especially in US Congress with the ME TOO Congress act and it also helped with removing men who had been accused of this conduct are sexual harassment.  This is also somewhat similar to the events that happened with the Black Lives Matter movement. Many of the activists’ cause change to happen with their stories, especially when it comes to stories about police.  There are so many people who had the same experience as African Americans. All of these stories affected everyone across the globe and promoted social and political change.  This is why stories can be so influential and the accessibility to social media helps spread these stories and information everywhere.

Social media also creates certain environments in spaces for people to communicate.  This is where a media ecology comes into play. Social media is a form of communication that was invented due to technology. Social media also extends the reach of information that can affect our views on politics and influence out behavior. Additionally, these platforms create different environments to communicate in. This is especially true for politics. As you can see on various platforms these environments can also cause divides among people. For example, say someone leans heavily to the right when it comes to politics and that they have a platform on Facebook that perpetuates their beliefs. This is an environment created for and meant to be catering to other conservatives. As you can sometimes see they will also insult or belittle those who have different political beliefs or are a part of social movements. The same can be said for someone who is on the other side of the political spectrum. Each of these platforms will create wildly different environments for people to communicate in. Additionally, these platforms allow us to communicate and connect to others globally, or in other words we are a global village. This is why social movements and politics can even affect other countries with the aid of social media. Bringing up the Me Too movement again, you could see this event that started in the United States spread globally like wildfire. The UK also took part in the movement, and it even caused 36 members of parliament to be implicated. Another example given in the article was China, even though the tag #Me Too was banned they still found a way to spread it by using the tag #RiceBunny. The same can also be said for Black Lives Matter. The issue in the United States had spread globally and there were others holding protests, vigils and painted murals in support of the movement and victims of police brutality. As you can see social media has a huge reach and can affects and expose us to what is happening globally, and these issues can cause political change even in other countries that where the issue originated from.

As a final note, social media can be used for agenda-setting especially when it comes to politics. Media can shape the public agenda especially if it is something that you are exposed to over and over again. This can also go back to the Me Too movement or Black Lives matter. The more exposed people are to it the more it can affect a person’s views on the issue. If all they are exposed to is critics of the movement or only see people speaking negatively about said movements that can cause people to have their views influenced. This is the same for others on the other side of the spectrum. If a platform supports the movements, then they are helping set the agenda, this is also the same for those who would disagree. A very important note when it comes to media is fake news. The spread of false information can leave people uniformed of what is actually going on and can even negatively influence politics. This misinformation can spread like wildfire on social media platforms and cause several issues. One huge and well-known issue with fake news that is known globally is the 2016 United States presidential election. Peoples trust in what is traditional media is declining causing people to turn to social media to get their news. Although, even social media is not immune to having fake news being spread and it can still run rampant. An example given by Jasper was a Facebook post that linked an article with false information. The post was about Pope Francis supposedly endorsing Donald Trump for president of the United States. This was a false story, but it spread like wildfire because of how fast fake news is spread. Although it was an insignificant amount, it did somewhat influence voter behavior. A final important note is agenda melding. This is where we can mix agendas in order to fit our views. We tend to only look at media that fits our views and beliefs and avoid exposing ourselves to what we disagree with or challenges our beliefs. This in turn causes us to only spend and communicate with those who share our beliefs and think the way we do. This can be seen all over social media, we will follow and listen to those who share the same beliefs that we do. Although this can cause major problems such as the polarization of politics. Social media is so divided which in turn causes the public, especially in the United States to be very divided when it comes to politics. If you listen and only view platforms that lean republican chances are that those are the only platforms you interact with, this is the same if you are democratic. Many of these platforms bash the other side furthering the polarization and influencing others to only listen to one side or the other when it comes to politics. Social media can have quite the impact on politics.