ABU DHABI — The political advertisements in the US Presidential election campaigns have always been ending with calls to action such as asking to join a campaign, donate funds, and vote, but the social media era has added one more — share your data, according to an analyst.
Social media applications collect people’s data to identify their background and interests, while election campaigns are utilizing those platforms to reach specific demographic groups, said Joanna Weiss, a senior American journalist who has been covering presidential elections since 2004.
Election campaigns are heavily using social media platforms and political advertisements, asking voters to sign up in the campaign by sharing their information to be contacted again, she added at a virtual briefing from Washington Foreign Press Centre for journalists participating in a virtual reporting tour of the election process, organized by the US Department of State.
More than 200 journalists have been selected for the eight-week long virtual tour, from media outlets across the globe, including Emirates News Agency, WAM.
Weiss, a contributing editor to Politico Magazine, where she writes about the intersection of media, politics, and culture, said candidates are using different social media platforms for different purposes.
"Twitter is good for live communication. President Donald Trump uses it so much to bypass the media. It helps to push something into news cycle," she said, adding that President Trump has been using it more effectively than anybody else since 2016 presidential elections.
"Instagram is a very visual medium that helps create a particular mood; that’s why the advertisements on Instagram are seen less contentious and more about pushing out a message," observed Weiss who is also the editor-in-chief of Experience, an award-winning digital magazine published by Northeastern University.
TikTok is also a big emerging social media platform in the US, she noted. It hosts short-form videos up to 60 seconds, tremendously popular in the US among the demographic group known as Gen Z (Generation Z) who are aged under 25.
"It is very popular among high school students, middle school students, and people who can’t vote yet. I imagine if TikTok still exists [in the future] it will become a very important platform in the upcoming elections," Weiss explained.
"Of course, Facebook is still a dominant platform in social media political communication today. I think so because it has the ability to engage people directly, whether in fundraising, giving more data, voter mobilization or as a sharing tool. That’s where we see more political action now," she said.
The US Presidential election will be held on Nov. 3. The Republican president Donald Trump, is running for re-election against Democrat and former Vice President Joe Biden. — WAM
