Essay on Social Media and USA Presidency

Social media is becoming an important part of the interaction between friends and the community at large. The government is also beginning to consider and integrate social media into the daily functions. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Blogs, and Facebook among others have become powerful tools for the government officials. Social media profile accounts have become easy to create. However, there have been situations in which elected leaders have used social media inappropriately. This raises the issue of social media best practices that should be adhered to by the elected leaders.

One of the best social media practices would be accuracy. It has been noted that elected leaders are posting inaccurate information on social media and then apologizing later. It is critical to ensure one has all the facts before posting. Ensure there are no errors that might contradict the intended message (Iowa State University, 2017). This ensures that the message is correctly interpreted and the elected leaders gain respect. Another best practice is the development of a social media plan. The plan spells out who is responsible for posting and monitoring. There is need to have a clear purpose of using the social media for the office. Thinking before posting is another best practice. Elected leaders should consider privacy and liability of the information they put to the public through social media. They should consider whether the post could be interpreted negatively, the spelling and formatting are also corrected (Iowa State University, 2017). Consideration should be done to see if the posts are of angry nature, overly emotional and biased. It is also about the potentiality of bad publicity for the office. It is another best practice to start with training on the usage of social media and its legal and ethical implication. Only these the appropriate application of these best practices will lead to effective use of social media devoid of scandals.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have been utilizing the social media mostly Facebook and Twitter in relaying their agendas to the American citizens and the rest of the world. The evaluation will be restrained to specific dates between 24th October 2017 and 10th October 2017. President Trump social media activities relayed various themes on critical issues. First, a theme of economic growth is suggested in which Trump claimed the stock market was improving which was translating to jobs getting better. He pointed out that the stock market had attained 5.3 trillion on October 21st since the United States election. Secondly, there is the theme of tax policy in which he pointed out that there would be no change in 401(k) plan since it has been a popular and middle-class tax break that is beneficial. Thirdly, there was mention of the American foreign policy in which the president congratulated the military for their work in dealing with ISIS. On October 20th, he posted about the need to keep America safe through eradication of spreading Radical Islamic terror. Just like the President, the Vice President Mike Pence has been using Twitter and Facebook in communicating with the Americans and the rest of the world presenting various themes concerning the United States. The evaluation of Mike Pence social media activity will be from October 01, 2017 to October 14, 2017. First, on October 14, he did a post concerning domestic policy to promote jobs, economic growth, American energy and the second amendment. Secondly, Pence also pointed at the tax policy on October 14 when he promised to grow the economy and reduce taxes. Thirdly, the Vice President posted about the immigration reforms to ensure the United States borders are secured.

President Trump in his official page has described the need to rebuild the nation and disrupt the status quo (The White House, 2017). This is consistent with some of the content he has been putting on social media such as healthcare reforms, tax reforms and immigration law reforms among others. Vice President Message on his official page is also consistent with what he has been presenting on social media. Some of the massages have revolved around reductions of taxes and improved economy (The White House, 2017). He has also been keeping on strategies to improve employment for the American people.

There have been questions concerning the personal or social responsibility of leaders beyond the context of social media to their citizens. In my opinion, the elected leaders owe personal or social responsibility to all citizens irrespective of whether they are active social media users or not. It, therefore, means elected leaders need to find a balance and avoid overusing social media. There is also the need to conduct interviews and press conferences as well. Vice President Mike Pence has been very meticulous in his use of social media which can be seen through the way he updates his Facebook and Twitter accounts. However, he needs to work more to spread the message of unity to all Americans. President Trump, on the other hand, has a lot more to do concerning his use of social media. It can be noted that most of his posts are angry, overly emotional and biased when is continuously attacking Democrats. Being the president, Trump needs to use social media to unite citizens regardless of being Republicans or Democrats. This involves thinking before posting.

In conclusion, social media has helped citizens to keep connected. Elected leaders have taken up social media in relaying messages to the citizens. However, it has become a problem to detect what can be considered true or lies concerning these messages (New York Times, 2017). Do deal with this, Americans need to find a path back to the culture that allowed acceptance of facts. Leaders who believe in truth can work towards the evaluation of truth.

References

Iowa State University, (2017). Best Practices for Social Media Use | Student Activities Center. Sac.iastate.edu. Retrieved 25 October 2017, from https://www.sac.iastate.edu/student-organizations/resources-for-organizations/adviser-resources/best-practices-for-social-media-use/

New York Times (2017). Opinion | Truth and Lies in the Age of Trump. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 25 October 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/opinion/truth-and-lies-in-the-age-of-trump.html

The White House, (2017). President Donald J. Trump. (2017). whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 25 October 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-trump

The White House, (2017). Vice President Mike Pence. (2017). whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 25 October 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-pence