Meme's and Politics: How Politicians are using Social Media to Influence Citizens

In present day society, the weight put towards a Politicians social media presence is now an important aspect in ones campaign. The term social media is portrayed as a newly created terminology, largely associated with companies such as Facebook and Twitter. The technological advancements of these social media websites have also altered the dynamic of politics in the 21^st century. The creation of the Internet has developed a new power struggle within society; with the Internet being one of the main powerful tools for the oppression of less dominate beliefs and the promotion of more hegemonic ideals within politics. 

Manuel Castell defines power as the, “relational capacity that enables a social actor to influence asymmetrically the decisions of the other social actor(s) in ways that favour the empowered actors will, interests, and values.” One can see the power struggle within social media, every time one logs on. Politicians and corporate institutions put a large emphasis on having a social media presence, through gaining the most followers, likes and shares. Those politicians, which have a large manifestation on social media are seen to be a higher class of people within these online social communities. Castell mentions this phenomenon saying that, “Technology is one of many results of the productive societal interactions of human beings. It therefore has qualities that are, on the one hand, specifically societal" (Castell 74). In capitalist, democratic society there are class struggles, which are usually influenced by ones financial income. Online social media websites have created a currency that also establishes these social influences. This currency is not physical money but rather translated into: likes, shares and follows. In order to gain this sought after online presence, you must follow the institutional ideals and beliefs that are seen as normative. An important source of media for swaying public opinion or collecting these social currency can be seen within sites such as, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler Pinterest and Snapchat in the form of political memes. 

 Meme's in politics are not new, the word was actually first created by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book the Selfie Gene, which explained how individuals spread cultural information. However, the book does not talk about how memes have now infiltrated the political realm. The concept of meme actually takes its route meaning from Greek, where it means "that which is imitated." However, since its induction into the Internet sphere, it has transformed into a form of media that is copied rapidly, with various variations of images, texts and video. Political memes are created and used by people in order to sway individuals towards seeing the political environment in a particular light. Presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz embraced the meme culture using the hashtags #CruzCrowd and #FeelTheBern in order for his        supporters to tag him in memes through out social media. Memes seem to circulate within the newsfeeds of prominent social media profiles, often not targeting political policies but rather they try to portray one specific politician as more negative than they other, which can be seen above in the anti-Trump meme. 

Memes have a lasting affect within politics, they are seemingly never ending viral moments in pop culture, they have a peculiar affect, for their function seems to be to crowdsource particular agendas. More specifically, memes and hashtags come to define the entire debate or election as a whole for 2016. There influence is only continuing to grow and may define future elections even more greatly than this past election. However, the influence social media has over politics over the last few elections, cannot be questioned, and its presence will continue to grow, specifically as political parties and politicians gain an even larger following within these sites. 

Work Sited: 

Castells, Manuel. 2009. Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Conclusion: Toward a communication theory of power. Print.