Internet as a Political Medium!

From a political revolution in Syria four-five years back till the recent U.S. presidential election, and of course in the future as well, the internet has always played a significant role due to its reach, connectivity, and high potential of impacting the consumers across the globe.

Since the world is connected closely through Internet, a vast amount of information is passed through various mediums especially social media platforms. Political establishment recently have realized the importance of internet literacy and the importance of its efficient exploitation in a political arena. With merely an internet connection, anyone, literally, can build a website and launch an online campaign. An activist can research on legislation overnight, gets the fact sheets and generates thousands of emails to Congress the very next day, while sparking bloggers and journalists to create awareness about the same, meanwhile. It is important as it gives a really good opportunity for almost everyone to voice their opinion and get empowered to witness change in the society. With more number of youngsters engaging in the political discourse, be it active or passive contributors, it is crucial for political systems to engage back with them. To example a few, U.S. President Barack Obama while his 2012 presidential campaign have had actively engaged on Reddit community and had answered various questions by himself. This move was highly applauded by the netizens. Also, a minister of Indian Railways Mr. Prabhu have taken cognizance of various complaints a number of times came to him through social media platforms like Twitter.

Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter which drives through Internet, can bring and unite people across the globe for various social, humanitarian, and political causes, however, is a strong social tool to drive one’s agenda forward. Social media especially contribute to greater superficiality than facts, more opinions than intellectual engagements and more importantly, political polarization across the whole political spectrum.

Interestingly, it is also possible to create false propaganda against or for a political system by exploiting fake users. Last US Presidential election saw a huge difference between public opinion on the internet verses actual public opinion through votes. Though Internet can be used for a greater political and social engagement, everything that happens on the Internet cannot necessarily be true. As Peter Steiner’s cartoon in New York Times famously depicts, “On the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog!”