Voter Mobilization Thesis

Annie S. Hwang in her article Social Media and the Future of U.S. Presidential Campaigning writes "With its growing popularity, social media are positioned to become the smarter and cheaper alternative to traditional media advertising," and “Through one person’s social media account, a campaign can now connect to 500 friends and more.” These are basically the reasons behind being an important communication tool and that is what makes it important for the leaders who are in search for such a tool.

A journal was published in 2012 “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization," that mentioned about the study and its findings of how the messages on Facebook newsfeed can indeed have effects on voters. It stated Voter mobilization efforts are effective at increasing turnout, particularly those conducted face-to-face and those that appeal to social pressure and social identity." This means that social media can forge certain beliefs and propagandas and increase the popularity.

The authors said "Voter mobilization experiments have shown that most methods of contacting potential voters have small effects (if any) on turnout rates, ranging from 1% to 10%. However, the ability to reach large populations online means that even small effects could yield behavior changes for millions of people." This explains the turnout of 2016

Twitter’s hashtag (#) feature is important in this conceptualization of agency and rhetorical use because it presents a centralized space for discussion within the larger context of the technological possibilities.” This is one of the feature of a social media website that aided to grab audience’s attention. Characteristics like this allows social media websites and applications to mobilize the society as a reaction to any challenge that requires unity and collective stance on behalf of the general