Technology is affecting every part of our lives and its influence continues to increase as it becomes more sophisticated. One of the areas that has been the most profoundly transformed by technology is politics. Campaigns are almost completely fought online these days, and since the days of Obama, all candidates have had to master online tools in order to succeed.
Trump fully understood this and was able to get elected even if virtually every major outlet out there was unfavorable to him. This is how powerful technology has become and why it will continue to be the most important tool for elections to come. Let’s take a look at how technology has changed politics.
Facebook Algorithms and Fake News
Facebook and its news feed algorithm were front and center in the last few elections mainly because of accusations of fake news coming through the outlet. While the claims were sometimes overblown, there is still truth to them as Facebook explicitly said that they do not vet the stories in their feed, which can be an issue.
Another issue with Facebook’s feed is that it only shows news that is likely to resonate with a particular base. This means that people only get to see news that aligns with their worldview and therefore they don’t get to consider the other side of the spectrum. This could become problematic in the future, especially if it’s shown that the algorithm favors one worldview over another.
New Approaches to Fundraising
Another area of politics that has been changed dramatically by technology is fundraising. Fundraising is done through a wider variety of channels and a large part of it is now done completely online or digitally.
If you’re a politician, then you will have no choice but to learn these new methods if you want to be able to amass funds for your campaign efficiently. One of the most important tools aspiring candidates need to learn right now is SMS marketing.
If you want to learn more about political campaign text message marketing you can check out Tatango’s guide. They explain everything you need to know about political campaign text message marketing and they have one of the most efficient platforms out there, so give them a look.
The Power of Twitter
No one would’ve imagined that a seemingly benign tool like Twitter would have such an impact when it was first introduced, but it might be the single most powerful campaigning tool any candidate can use today. We can safely assume that Donald Trump would’ve never been elected without the platform. Barack Obama also used Twitter for his reelection bid and there’s a strong chance he wouldn’t have been re-elected without it either.
Candidates need to have whole teams today to carefully craft tweets for them and gauge their impact. They also need to know what is being said about them and do damage control almost in real-time.
Conclusion
Technology will continue to have an impact on political campaigns, and, if you can’t master it as a politician, you can kiss your chances of attaining public office goodbye. So, learn how to harness the power of technology to your advantage instead of being scared of it.