Social media platforms were at the forefront of the 2020 Presidential Election.
Voters of all ages used digital platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to voice their opinions and political affiliations.
Politicians addressed their viewpoints on various policies candidly and with no filter. This allowed them more options to express ideas without traditional media outlets.
SFMN spoke with political expert and Florida International University professor Brian Fonseca on how social media is shaping politics.
“Social media and digital marketing have become overwhelmingly impactful to campaigns,” he said. “It does two things: it increases the reach and increases the speed of messaging.”
Voters, politicians and foreign governments showed just how easy it is to spread misinformation.
“When you look in the South Florida market, you see massive disinformation campaigns around painting the Biden-Harris ticket as socialist or progressive,” Fonseca said. “You also see it on the other side where campaigns were trying to paint anyone Republican as racist.”
