Social Media & Elected Officials - What about it?!

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he is thinking about quitting social media

This Article written by Mannsh Singh, discusses the Prime Minster of India, Narendra Modi, and how he could soon join the list of a growing number of people who are done with social media.

The Prime Minster is thinking of giving up all of this social media accounts - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. With over 93 Million followers collectiveley, he said deleting these “may further distance the leader from wide swathes of issues — growing unemployment in the nation, slowing economy, riots in national capital New Delhi and protests against his recent policies, to name a few — that some critics say his ruling party refuses to acknowledge, let alone fix.”

Modi uses these apps to promote his messages and agenda and that played a key role in his election last year. The app NaMo, is one of the most downloaded apps on Google Play Store in all of India. This app is used to share Modi’s and his political partys’ Bharatiya Janata, updates.

Modi says quitting social media may bring some peace. Some citizens of India, and others seem to believe that some people he follows have been found to be spreading false information or found inciting violence within their social media.

Elected officials and social media have been a topic in the news that people can tend to not agree on. Is It efficient? Is it unprofessional? 

My President, Donald Trump, also uses Twitter as one of his social media platforms. Trumps’ tweets are a great way to know what the President is thinking/doing. These tweets can also be a great source of conflict and controversy. Donald Trump writes these tweets himself.

“The new year has started pretty busy for the U.S President. His tweets have become a source of information. For some Trump’s tweets are crossing a line since he is using the platform to manifest official actions and decisions. For others, he keeps using the tweets as he has done always: as he pleases no matter what.” Trump has made 574 total tweets this year where people can interact with what is posted.

The evolution of Trump's tweets since he opened his Twitter account in 2009.

Twitters co-founder calls Trump "a master of the platform".

Trump, many times, will reply back to sources that he does not agree with. One we can be familiar with is #FakeNews. This is where people can start to disagree.

I believe it is OK that elected officials can use Social media if it is used for good. News can get out instantly and people can get an inside look of what our President is thinking. Both Modi and Trump feel twitter and social media in general, is a great way to get out information instantly, especially since getting News on online platforms is getting gradually more and more popular. Citizens are able to see these messages and interact with them if they wanted.

Modi might be taking this break from social media for “peace” or because of negative reactions with involving problems in Modern-Day India. For Trump, it is believed Twitter is his favorite source of social media. But for him, it can seem “unprofessional” for certain things he decides to tweet. (for example: a video making fun of CNN News”.

There is a fine line between getting across necessary information and using your title and position as a way to send usless information out instantly.