If anybody today released a new newspaper, and wrote all about politics, would people buy it over reading it over Twitter? Perhaps not. What about if the Newspaper brand name read as 'The Twitterlical times' rather than 'The Age', or 'The New York Times'. Maybe the chances would be higher.

Social media today has almost become the best pathway to politics. Various online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook display the latest and most up to date news and current affairs relative to all election matters. The Biggest trends on Twitter for Australians in 2016 included 1. #auspol 2. #ausvotes, and number 6. #ElectionNight (Chester 2016). This suggests that the political arena and the social media realm have come to find common online ground. #Election2016 in America was the leading discussion for most of 2016 around the world, and the passing year's most widely shared subject of political tweets (Victor 2016). Social media and politics assist each other in achieving national, and universal dominance.

Social media helps politicians themselves promote their beliefs and ideologies in a multitude of different ways, allowing their opinions to reach people far and wide. While not all political conversations on Twitter fall under the #auspol or #Election2016 umbrella, they are useful as hashtags merely because they are seen and circulated online (Bogle 2016). KIssane (2016) claims that the average voter spends a great deal of time being on their phones browsing through social network sites, and this has made political campaigners re-think the most efficient method of communication to get their point across to the greater public.

When satire such as caricatures drawn for cartoons with accompanying text, or online YouTube videos with well-known celebrities acting as politicians are printed in traditional media or posted online, younger voters who have less time or interest to read lengthy articles or watch debates become more enticed to follow and understand politics. And these images and videos are all becoming only one click or 'tap of the phone screen' away. Political discourse is shrinking to fit our smartphone screens (Carr 2015). Screens that easily support platforms like Facebook.

Curtis (2016) claims that Mark Zuckerberg has expressed interest in obtaining a position at the White House, after court documents revealed the Facebook founder made provisions to maintain control of Facebook if he went into government. If society now has the chance of being lead by a social media platform founder, what would this mean for politics long term?

Whether or not the growing relationship between politics and social media has become too overwhelming at times, as  with greater awareness comes further controversy, it seems inevitable that the nature of reciprocation will only get stronger as social media continues to prove itself as an effective tool for politicians overall.

REFERENCES

Bogle, A 2016, '#auspol: The Twitter hashtag Australia can't live without', Mashable Australia, viewed 10 December 2016, <http://mashable.com/2016/03/21/twitter-australia-auspol/#j08ht2Ev.Eq4>.

Carr, N 2015, 'How Social Media is ruining Politics', Politicio Magazine, viewed 7 December 2016, <http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/2016-election-social-media-ruining-politics-213104>.

Chester, R 2016, 'Top Australian tweets of the year focus on US politics, Brexit and sport', news.com, viewed 7 December 2016, <http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/top-australian-tweets-of-the-year-focus-on-us-politics-brexit-and-sport/news-story/00729d1b00994520a0696ac674243aef>.

Curtis, S 2016, 'Does Mark Zuckerberg want to be President? Text messages reveal Facebook founder's political aspirations', Mirror, viewed 9 December 2016, <http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/mark-zuckerberg-want-run-president-9423617>

Kissane, D 2015, 'Three ways the internet has changed political campaigns', viewed 5 December 2016, <http://www.doz.com/marketing-resources/three-ways-internet-changed-political-campaigns>.