Advantages Of Social Media

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Introduction With global Internet penetration reaching nearly 36% across the world , the internet is now used by one out of every three persons. The internet, to put it simply, is a large network of interconnected computers. Large enough that one in three people are connected to the network. A direct by-product of the internet is the creation of contemporary forms of communication, which we will broadly categorise as ‘Social Media’. Social Media revolves around user generated content in interactive platforms allowing the kind of freedom that traditional forms of real and virtual media lack. Social media platforms can be divided on the basis of their content; Blogs (BlogSpot), micro-blogs (Twitter), content communities (YouTube), collaborative…show more content…
Traditionally, politicians rely on their oratorical skills and door-to-door campaigning, to keep in touch with the general public and are now switching to an easier and more convenient means: Social media. Political campaigns across the worlds now rely on social media platforms to advertise themselves and attack their opponents in equal measure. Advertising on these platforms has a primary advantage that most other forms of advertising cannot offer; the power to tailor the audience for any particular ad, instead of the other way around, based on any number of criteria, including age, gender, region…show more content…
The Italian case clearly highlights this. Italy is a country with strong democratic roots. However, most forms of traditional Italian media are state controlled. Widespread internet usage spread through Italy after 2000 and Italy has held three elections since then. In the 2013 elections, the two-party coalition that had been incumbent since 1994 was overthrown by a new comer party, the 5 Star Movement (M5S). The victory of the M5S party in the election has been directly correlated to increased broadband availability and the ability to express discontent and form like-minded groups online. The high speed communication the internet facilitates and social media takes advantage of, is a very important factor in deciding the elections in any democratic
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