Twitter, the megaphone of politics (for better or for worse)

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“Without twitter I wouldn’t be here” Four months after taking office in 2017, donald trump He proudly admitted that he instrumentalized it in an interview with the Financial Times. social network to reach White Housean unexpected victory that transforms reality politics inside United States of America and that it sets a precedent for how it can be used as an ideological megaphone.

Twitter was born in mid-2006 with the intention of being a place where you can connect with your friends and tell them what’s new. Celebrities were the first to colonize the platform, but it took little time for them to realize the communicative opportunities that politics provided them.

barack obama He was the smartest and started a channel to talk directly to citizens and raise money by joining Twitter in 2007. A year later, he became the first African-American president of the United States. United States of America After receiving 66% of the under-30 votes. Elections could already be won online. And pay much less than traditional advertising. Obama’s communications strategy changed the political playing field, and his victory led to the spread of Twitter and other social networks, for example. Facebook, YouTube anyone instagram– they can be very important tools to mark public opinion and debate, a force that seduces many.

However, politics is not only done in offices. Young Tunisian trader on January 4, 2011 Mohammed Bouazizi He burned himself to denounce the oppression of the Ben Ali dictatorship. The fire that burned his body to death also ignited the social protest in Turkey. Tunisiafinding digital loopholes in the regime’s censorship and overthrowing it. The marches found an ally on platforms like Twitter, which contributed to the images and messages of condemnation by setting the streets of other countries on fire, such as Egypt, Libya or Bahrain, on fire. While its role has sometimes been simplified, the instantaneous nature of communication in networks has helped shape what is known as communication. The Arab Spring.

Nets, a broken mirror

These two milestones contributed to the normalization of Twitter’s use as a space with near real-time access to what’s happening around the world. Conscious of this, journalists made Twitter their favorite social network as it opened the door for them to follow. To present, communicate with resources and create their own community of readers to interact with. This has led him to emphasize the presence of political and economic power on the platform, thus seeking a greater opportunity to stand out amid a frenzied struggle for attention. Not being on Twitter (or other networks) is not available. All this has made the bluebird platform a kind of digital public square.

However, social networks are not a pure reflection of reality, but a distorted mirror. Domains like Twitter try to keep you connected to the platform to collect more data from you and use it to sell. advertisementand the best way to retain you is to show you what you want to see, what matches your ideas. In the ideological realm, this confirmation bias has led users to reject different viewpoints. polarization Y radicalization society

Trump and social fire

Donald Trump and his advisers were smarter than anyone else to understand how social media (and the attention capitalism that rules it) rewards taunts, insults, and nasty comments by appealing to emotions and generating greater backlash. In 2011, the real estate tycoon turned into a TV star and began tweeting furiously, studying how to exploit the rules of the game until he tamed the rules like no other.

What he learned, from humiliating his opponents to spreading racist conspiracies against Obama, was honed in the 2016 election campaign that brought him to power against all odds. His simple, vulgar, and openly discriminatory style, following the codes of the digital far-right, has emboldened his own and offended his opponents by network-enhanced sentiments. Despite being in charge of the White House and the most-followed president on Twitter (88.9 million), Trump continued the troll method and encouraged his loyalists to give it a go. culture war and (also via bots) all kinds of racist conspiracies, antisemits or against your country’s democratic system.

More than 16 years after its birth, Twitter continues to be an important space for political discussions and the construction of social media. public opinion. It’s a megaphone that activists use to protest what they’re trying to change, but it’s also a tool that – as Trump admits – allows politicians around the world to shout propaganda slogans, avoiding the scrutiny of critics.

But the presence of politics on Twitter may be less cumbersome than the crooked mirror shows us. A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that while 33% of tweets posted by Americans are political, 78% of them are produced by people over 50.

“Without twitter I wouldn’t be here” Four months after taking office in 2017, donald trump He proudly admitted that he instrumentalized it in an interview with the Financial Times. social network to reach White Housean unexpected victory that transforms reality politics inside United States of America and that it sets a precedent for how it can be used as an ideological megaphone.

Twitter was born in mid-2006 with the intention of being a place where you can connect with your friends and tell them what’s new. Celebrities were the first to colonize the platform, but it took little time for them to realize the communicative opportunities that politics provided them.

barack obama He was the smartest and started a channel to talk directly to citizens and raise money by joining Twitter in 2007. A year later, he became the first African-American president of the United States. United States of America After receiving 66% of the under-30 votes. Elections could already be won online. And pay much less than traditional advertising. Obama’s communications strategy changed the political playing field, and his victory led to the spread of Twitter and other social networks, for example. Facebook, YouTube anyone instagram– they can be very important tools to mark public opinion and debate, a force that seduces many.

However, politics is not only done in offices. Young Tunisian trader on January 4, 2011 Mohammed Bouazizi He burned himself to denounce the oppression of the Ben Ali dictatorship. The fire that burned his body to death also ignited the social protest in Turkey. Tunisiafinding digital loopholes in the regime’s censorship and overthrowing it. The marches found an ally on platforms like Twitter, which contributed to the images and messages of condemnation by setting the streets of other countries on fire, such as Egypt, Libya or Bahrain, on fire. While its role has sometimes been simplified, the instantaneous nature of communication in networks has helped shape what is known as communication. The Arab Spring.

Nets, a broken mirror

These two milestones contributed to the normalization of Twitter’s use as a space with near real-time access to what’s happening around the world. Conscious of this, journalists made Twitter their favorite social network as it opened the door for them to follow. To present, communicate with resources and create their own community of readers to interact with. This has led him to emphasize the presence of political and economic power on the platform, thus seeking a greater opportunity to stand out amid a frenzied struggle for attention. Not being on Twitter (or other networks) is not available. All this has made the bluebird platform a kind of digital public space.

However, social networks are not a pure reflection of reality, but a distorted mirror. Domains like Twitter try to keep you connected to the platform to collect more data from you and use it to sell. advertisementand the best way to retain you is to show you what you want to see, what matches your ideas. In the ideological realm, this confirmation bias has led to users rejecting different viewpoints, an echo chamber. polarization Y radicalization society

Trump and social fire

Donald Trump and his advisers were smarter than anyone else to understand how social media (and the attention capitalism that rules it) rewards taunts, insults, and nasty comments by appealing to emotions and generating greater backlash. In 2011, the real estate tycoon turned into a TV star and began tweeting furiously, studying how to exploit the rules of the game until he tamed the rules like no other.

What he learned, from humiliating his opponents to spreading racist conspiracies against Obama, was honed in the 2016 election campaign that brought him to power against all odds. His simple, vulgar, and openly discriminatory style, following the codes of the digital far-right, has emboldened his own and offended his opponents by network-enhanced sentiments. Despite being in charge of the White House and being the most-followed president on Twitter (88.9 million), Trump continued the troll method and encouraged his loyalists to give it a go. culture war and (also via bots) all kinds of racist conspiracies, antisemits or against your country’s democratic system.

More than 16 years after its birth, Twitter continues to be an important space for political discussions and the construction of social media. public opinion. It’s a megaphone that activists use to protest what they’re trying to change, but it’s also a tool that – as Trump admits – allows politicians around the world to shout propaganda slogans, avoiding the scrutiny of critics.

But the presence of politics on Twitter may be less cumbersome than the crooked mirror shows us. A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that while 33% of tweets posted by Americans are political, 78% of them are produced by people over 50.

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