Is social media beneficial during elections?
The term, social media, has been defined in various ways. One definition is “social media is the collective of online communication channels dedicated to community based input, interaction, content sharing and collaboration”.
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“Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmaking, social curation, and wikis – are among the different types of social media,”according to this definition.
Another definition of social media is as follows: “Social media are computer-mediated technologies that allow the creating and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.”
“Social media use web-based and mobile technologies on smartphones and tablet computers to create highly interactive platforms through which individual communities and organisations can share, co-create, discuss and modify user-generated content or premade content posted online.”
There are many types of social media channels. Prominent among them are the following: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and Reddit.
Facebook “is a popular, free social media working website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues”.
Twitter “is a free microblogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users’ tweets by using multiple platforms and devices”.
Google Plus “is a social media networking project designed to replicate the way people interact online more closely than in the case of other social networking services”.
Wikipedia “is a free open content online encyclopaedia created through the collaborative efforts of community of users known as Wikipedians. Anyone registered on the site can create an article for publication”.
LinkedIn “is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members to establish and document network of people they know and trust professionally.”
Reddit “is a social news website and forum where stories are socially curated by site members”.
Social media has, over the years, proved to be an effective and variably reliable communication tool for both interpersonal and mass communication of news, ideas, occurrences, opinions and ordinary messages, among others.
It affords the opportunity for fast and instant communication which is not available to the traditional and industrial print and electronic media such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
As at September, 2016, Facebook, for example, had a total of 1,712,000,000 users; Twitter, 313,000,000; and Instagram, 500,000,000 users.
However, unlike the traditional mass media that must, in principle and practice, operate within a certain set of rules, social media does not.
Social media practice is always not based on the principle that gathering, processing and packaging of media content must be systematic and reliable.
Social media users are not necessarily trained at the School of Journalism or on the job as is the case with the traditional media. Any person who knows how to use the computer or mobile phone can operate as a community journalist.
That is why social media sometimes becomes unruly.
It is also known that heavy use of social media can cause depression. Cyber bullying, online harassment and hacking have become part of social media.
However, should social media be closed down temporarily, especially at general election time, because of the disadvantages?
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A few countries do shut down social media during elections for obvious reasons.
The advantages of social media far outweigh its shortcomings. As the old saying puts it: one should not throw away the bathtub, the dirty water and the baby.
What ought to be thrown away is the dirty water. We should do the same with social media.
The December 7, 2016 general and presidential elections in Ghana have proved that social media can be a very useful tool during national elections.
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For unexpected reasons, 12 hours after end of voting, the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) could not relay election results from the district collation centres and from the EC’s headquarters.
The vacuum was filled with teasers from polling station reports by traditional media journalists and community journalists via the social media and radio and television.
Obviously, the delay by the EC in relaying results early created tension, anxiety and stress in the country. It was not surprising that some political parties and the mass media started to declare results out of parallel results collation.
Publication of parallel collated results served as a balm. It soothed the racked nerves of people and prevented what could have become an election disaster as it happened in Kenya in December 2007 – after that country’s Electoral Commission delayed in announcing results.
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Journalism is an art and a science. When journalism is used as it happened after the December 7, 2016 elections, it becomes a science.
News can make and unmake. It can heal and it can maim and kill. It is necessary, therefore, for certain types of news, such as bad news or extremely happy news, to be administered in a systematic and scientific way to avoid unnecessary harm to media consumers.
It should be noted that for the first time in Ghana and probably in Africa, losers in the December 7, 2016 elections conceded defeat and congratulated the victorious party – the New Patriotic Party – before the EC announced the official results.
The credit should go to social media and the traditional mass media on the one side and the political parties on the other.
(therson.cofie@yahoo.com)