Social Media Allows for Quick Policy Checks for Casual Voters

While Twitter was originally created as another social media website, during a time where interest and involvement in politics have become more vocal and important, Twitter has become more than just a website to post life updates.

As with much of the internet, the instantaneity that Twitter can provide allows for more information to spread quickly. While this also means misinformation can spread just as quickly, journalists recognize Twitter and other social media sites’ power to expand their reach and help people to become more informed about the world around them.

An obvious example would be information about the upcoming election. In a tweet that can be found at https://tinyurl.com/y6x3lt5g , journalist David Doel points out how out of touch the Biden campaign (and by extension, the Democratic establishment) is with younger voters by highlighting important policies that most young people want to see that Biden refuses to support through the juxtaposition of a news report announcing the Biden campaign’s new Animal Crossing New Horizons merchandise.

With the advent of the “quote tweet” on Twitter, people are able to comment on other users’ Tweets while still giving the original context as to what they are commenting on. This opens up many possibilities for journalists to actively call out misinformation, give context to certain posts, and quickly inform followers on smaller stories.