Politics

In this modern world politicians are using turning to more and more forms of media in order to spread their words of wisdom. In the United States of America, President Barack Obama has over 41 million followers. Closer to home former Prime Minister and social media fanatic Kevin Rudd has nearly 1.4 million followers is regularly seen taking 'selfies' with the youth of the nation. The main question is, does social media help politicians? Can it influence their popularity and lead to more votes or will it do more damage than good?

According to the Australian, Kevin Rudd has missed the mark. The article dated August 19th 2013, during Rudd's short second stint as Prime Minister, states that proximity is the key to a successful campaign stating that those physically closest to the candidate have the most influence. Some key statistics gathered from virtual focus groups listed social media low on the list of preferred sources for news on Australian politics.

83% Newspapers

81% ABC television

81% ABC radio

49% Commercial television

36% Blogs and non-mainstream media

31% Social media

One could argue that blogs form a part of social media, which would raise the figure above 31%, none the less, social media is not seen as a particularly favourable way to gather information about politics in Australia.

According to Gallup.com the figures do not paint help social media in the United States with the preferred news source being Television with 55% and Internet at only 21%, with only 2% coming from Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

So why do politicians insist on using social media? Thumbprintmarketinggroup.com believes it comes down to four reasons, worldwide reach, saving money, donations and trust.

These are all legitimate reasons and considering the ease and price of using social media, it seems stupid to not make use of what can be used as an essentially free marketing tool that gives wider and faster reach world wide then many other forms of media. Even 2%, for the costs involved, is worth using social media.

For politicians, much like businesses and and anybody else, social media can be a very beneficial and helpful tool, the key is to make sure that it is used correctly in order to have the best outcome. Taking a leap out of Mitt Romney's book and buying followers will no doubt cause more damage than good, and it might be a good idea to keep the number of selfies to a minimum to avoid targeting the wrong demographic for the party's policies.