In theory, social media should be a great unifier. It has the ability to reach people across the political aisle, people of all ages, and people off all different walks of life. However, in the case of the political sphere, this isn’t usually the case. Social media tends to be skewed towards younger people who generally lean a bit more left than average. This can lead to data extrapolated from social media to be inaccurate. An article by an assistant professor of public relations at the University of North Carolina gives four reasons as to why data can be misread.
The first reason is what’s known as “filter bubbles.” The basic premise is that the political information you consume is mostly likely in a bubble. You look at content that’s relevant to you, that content usually being from perspectives that. you identify with or agree with. Algorithms are used to keep you engaged and in your bubble, and that applies to journalists too.
The second reason is Twitter bias. Twitter is looked at by journalists and the public much more than Facebook, despite Facebook being used by 70% of Americans as opposed to the 22% American usage of Twitter. Twitter users are also not representative of their parties. On average, Democratic voters on Twitter are much more progressive than the traditional party member.
The third reason is the older voter blind spot. Despite being one of the highest voting groups, most older voters do not use social media much. Two large political social media platforms, Reddit and Twitter, get ridiculously low usage numbers from the elderly population. This leads to an active and loud voice on these platforms that doesn’t represent actual voting numbers.
To read about these three and the final reason more in depth, check out the previously mentioned article here: https://theconversation.com/4-reasons-why-social-media-election-data-can-misread-public-opinion-121403
LIS 4022 Spring 2020 