Mass Media: 2012 election

Mass media affects politics through social media and displays of partisan advertisements.

Social networking has strongly influenced the 2012 presidential election.

-Obama used online resources effectively in 08 by getting funding through online donations. Supporters had an easier time contributing to the campaign because of the advanced use of technology.
-Apps have been used often in social media to influence the 2012 political campaign
Obama and Romney have created their own apps to use to connect voters with their campaigns and spread ideas and messages throughout social media and networking. Obama started his 2012 campaign app in 2010. It is called ‘Organizing for America.’ Romney tried to provide his challenge app called ‘With Mitt’ but it spelled America wrong as "Amercia" in the campaign slogan. Obama’s campaign seems to be a little more on top of the technology because they have the practice from the 2008 election. Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group (The Enderle Group shows different perspectives at technology and shows different reasons that people involved with technology should care about the issue) said, "Obama is more aggressive in terms of managing perceptions in terms of mobile. As for Romney, it's almost as if he doesn't exist" in mobile. Republicans are active in technology and social media and apps, but Romney’s actual campaign has not done a lot with apps and mobile social initiatives. 20 million apps are installed everyday on Facebook and 1 in every 13 people on Earth use Facebook. 48% of young Americans said they find out about news through Facebook. This means that apps are great ways for campaigns to get info out into the world. It would seem that Obama tends to use social networking and apps more effectively than Romney, thus improving his chances with the large population of social networkers.
-Smart phones that have begun to provide online access have provided tons of new ways for social networking and online ads to revolve around the 2012 election.(1)

• In regard to smartphones and access to internet on phones, and those types of mobile media, Velti, a mobile marketing and advertising provider along with Harris Interactive did a survey (July 2012) and found out that 49 percent of smartphone owners (specifically iphone and android) would vote for President Barack Obama, while 31 percent would vote for Mitt Romney. They also found out that Mitt Romney is leading in traditional polls that have nothing to do with smartphones. This goes to show how mobile media has become crucial to political success. Obama seems to dominate the mobile media while Romney seems to be a bit behind in that area.(2)

-The use of social networking has held politicians much more accountable for everything they say and do.

• Romney’s 47% statement couldn’t have spread so fast without social networking and youtube.(3,4)

How people get news

• In the good old days...
• In the 50s, the popularity of television skyrocketed. However, there were limited channels, due to technological constraints. It stayed this way until the late 70s
• It made economic sense for the big stations to emulate each others programming. This meant that if you turned on the television at 6 o'clock, you were stuck with news. People watched the news because of what was on before it, or what was coming after it. All that changed with CABLE...
• Cable news, cable other stuff (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.)
• With the rise of cable television, the choices in programming increased greatly. What kind of content you preferred mattered more, because you could actually choose between different genres at the same time. Those who wanted news all the time could have more news than ever before, but those who didn't want it could avoid it with ease. The remote control helped too. Where television news had narrowed the information gap, cable broadened it. You didn't have to sit through the news, but you did have to sit through...
• Political ads! And misleading, negative ones at that. This is where you can get news accidentally today. These ads could easily sway the so-called floating voter (the ill informed non partisan voter) because they often focus on controversy and drama, not real issues.
• MSNBC and FOX News
• Today it makes economic sense for these networks to be as extreme as possible. They don't need to get everyone to watch, but there are enough liberals and conservatives to support them.

Political advertising played a large role in the outcome of the 2012 presidential election.

-Advertising has hugely increased throughout the 2012 election. It has become a much more common tool in spreading political messages and influencing voters.

• Online advertising has dramatically increased throughout the span of one presidential election went from $22 million to $159 million. Online political ads have become more important in a candidates’ budget.(5)

-A plethora of research has been done to figure out how exactly advertisements can be the most effective and convince the most voters to pick their candidate.

• Use of negative ads is helpful when a candidate is behind in the election, whereas positive ads are used when candidates are ahead.
• The Wesleyan Research Project of 2008 showed how less than 1 in 10 ads related to the presidential election were negative. Now, negative ads about the 2012 presidential election have taken over 7 out of 10 negative ads from Obama and Romney. This is because negative ads have shown to instill fear into the minds of Americans. This fear comes from scary music or images or concepts, and has been shown to make people research more information. After watching negative ads that instill fear, people tend to remember more facts from the ad.
• All this detailed research has really contributed to the findings of new information. In a study done by Richard Eibich it was found that children make people lean conservative. Parents tend to be more conservative about their views and judgemental of others whereas non parents tend to be more relaxed about these issues. Positive feelings associated with ads make people feel more connected to the candidate and more supportive. These positive feelings can come in the form of bright colors, happy music, smiles, blue skies, etc.

-In 2011 there was a Supreme Court Case that allowed for unlimited campaign donations.

• This means that money spent on advertisements and mobile media will dramatically increase for this election. This means whichever politician has more supporters with more money (Romney), automatically will have access to more ads and more possibilities of moving voters to vote for them. That’s one issue with political advertisements and how they affect elections.(8)

-Mobile advertising is a new trend that has really opened doors for political campaigns.

• Mobile advertising is many different kinds of online technology that can help campaigns make a big impact and mobilize and inform their voters.
• The Romney campaign used mobile advertising in different specific areas of the country to target swing states for primaries. It has become very helpful for reaching people everywhere at a much faster and more effective rate than ever.(9)

HOW MOST PEOPLE GET THEIR INFO:
Media is how most people get most of their info, from secondary sources, not primary ones. "Most of the new information voters receive over the course of a political campaign is transmitted either by news media or through social networks such as interpersonal discussion" (Mondak 62)(10)
Because our country has developed these many new ways of receiving and displaying news, accessibility will reign supreme. The few interested voters will search the masses of media for answers and sources, back checking and following the online trail. The not so interested voters will only be exposed to the top layer of, most bias, fluffed up form of that news which leads many voters into the very common trap of ignorance.

AND BECAUSE THEY GET THEIR MEDIA FROM SECONDARY SOURCES, THEY ARE VICTIMS TO BIAS

PEOPLE ARE MAJORLY AFFECTED BY THE BIAS IN MEDIA...
-After the first 2012 presidential debate when Obama did poorly, the media exaggerated and talked and talked about how Romney was leading in the  polls. That on its own probably really influenced how people thought about the candidates.
“If reports say a certain candidate is ahead in an election, the public will come to accept that evaluation, which can greatly influence how voters cast their ballots. For the most part, people do not want to waste time on candidates they believe do not have a chance to win.”(11)
-Because of the massive increase in social network activity, like twitter, which is up to 1 billion tweets a week, many changes were made in the kind of public participation American voters interact with now, e.i. #Debate on the Presidential/ VP debates. The impact that social networks have on the voter and the accessibility of our opinions, now play a much larger role in politics. Now, everyone with a laptop or cellphone can do what only trained, professional writers were able to do a long time ago. They can give accessible information for others to collect and form opinions on, thus altering the voices of the voter.(12)

Bib:
1.http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/how-wireless-technologies-will-impact-2012-presidential-election#ixzz29iBFQQOc
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-stats-facts-2011/
2.http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120710005797/en/Velti-Survey-Shows-%E2%80%9CSmartphone-Gap%E2%80%9D-2012-U.S.
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/how-wireless-technologies-will-impact-2012-presidential-election#ixzz29i96ZdSz
3.http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-has-internet-changed-politics
4.http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-has-internet-changed-politics
5.http://keystoneclick.com/blogs/lauryn-jashinsky/affect-social-media-2012-presidential-election
6.http://swampland.time.com/2012/07/17/negative-ads-a-shift-in-tone-for-the-2012-campaign/
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/advertising.aspx
7.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/campaign-ads-effectiveness-2012-presidential_n_1696414.html
8.http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/how-wireless-technologies-will-impact-2012-presidential-election
9.How wireless technologies will impact the 2012 presidential election - FierceMobileContent http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/how-wireless-technologies-will-impact-2012-presidential-election#ixzz29i96ZdSz
10.http://voices.yahoo.com/the-influence-media-politics-campaigns-and-651361.html
11.http://voices.yahoo.com/the-influence-media-politics-campaigns-and-651361.html
12.-http://blog.kissmetrics.com/twitter-statistics/
MORE:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/09/how-much-will-social-media-really-affect-the-us-election250.html
http://www.propublica.org/
http://www.politifact.com
www.minnesota.publicradio.org
www.startribune
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/09/how-much-will-social-media-really-affect-the-us-election250.html
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/10/commentary-why-big-bird-is-a-red-herring286.html
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/10/can-a-social-media-campaign-get-people-to-vote-in-the-real-world277.html
http://rhetorica.net/bias.htm
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-influence-media-politics-campaigns-and-651361.html
http://www.pennyjobs.com/pp/public/Articles.aspx?aid=237
http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2004/election_media.html
http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/me/meb/meb01
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/advertising.aspx
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/campaign-ads-effectiveness-2012-presidential_n_1696414.html
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-stats-facts-2011/
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-has-internet-changed-politics


 

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