Politics over here in my country is something else. For a fact that there is a lot to gain from it by the greedy ones, it has become a do or die affair. It is a big deal for them and they try as much as they could to take out any obstacle that rises against them. Politicians fight dirty and most times they don't care. Their goal is the money that comes with the position they want.
Social media on the other hand has a lot of sides to it and one of it is that it's an eye opener to a lot of things that is going on around us on a daily basis. I can't imagine the world right now without social media. Social media is also a tool for everyone depending on how you can use it to your advantage. Both small and large scale businesses make use of social media for the growth and profit, individuals also make use of it and make a lot of money from it.
The influence of social media in the politics of my country is actually great. One thing I know for sure is that if you want to give something wide publicity, the first place to sell sell it to, is social media. Almost everyone is there and the speed at which it will run will surprise you.
Politicians in my country make use of social media a lot, to sell themselves and disqualify their opponent but still, politicians in my country needs more than social media to win elections. Let me use the last election to illustrate what I mean.
We had three candidates from three different political parties which everyone was aware of based on their popularity and party. There was this candidate that stood out. Everyone on social media loved him and he created a lot of awareness on the media. The youth loved him and were all routeing for him on social media. His opponent told him that the polls won't be conducted on social media which means that they had other plans but our candidate continued.
The campaign and everything continueed until the election day. a lot of people came out to vote for their preferred candidates but some other candidates made it business as usual by sending thugs to chase people away and stealing the ballot boxes a lot of people were left injured and dead the election was rigged for the political candidate who had a lot of money to buy people.
Social media was beneficial during the campaign and it opened our eyes to things that politicians usually sweep under the carpet. These days, they can't hide all anymore because we still get to hear about it somehow on social media. I still believe that in the near future, we will be able to use it better and there would be less violence in our elections.
This is my response to Hive Learners community weekly featured content week 162 episode 1 on the topic: Social Media and Politics
Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate you.
Yours Truly 