Agenda Setting through Social Media; A Case Study of How Influencers are leveraging Twitter Microblogging Tool to Influence the Public
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Agenda Setting through Social Media; A Case Study of How Influencers are leveraging Twitter Microblogging Tool to Influence the Public
Introduction
In recent years we have witnessed a complete turn around in the media ecosystem. With the increased growth of social media, there is now greater access to a large and varied amount of multimedia information within an interactive environment. New media platforms have become more accessible to a broader audience leading to an emergence of alternative media sources that have helped the public gather and share information without relying on journalists or other professionals in the traditional manner. Therefore, social media has become an important platform that is increasingly being exploited for information exchange.
Following the advent of the internet, social media has increasingly been used as a platform for political discussions and other purposes. That is made possible by the very nature of social media that allows people to have more access and, in turn, opened up an avenue for discussions on various agendas done through the application of agenda-setting capabilities. The agenda-setting theory was first introduced by Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs who insisted that media has a vital role of influence, it shapes political reality by determining the importance of some issues based on the amount of information in a given news story and the position taken (McCombs and Shaw, 1972). According to the agenda-setting theory, media does not really influence what people think about but set our minds on what we think about (Baran 2009). Exposure to incidental news via social media and other information sources, when conveyed to the users, tends to set the agenda, and it reflects the content of mass media.
Background of the Study
The evolution of social media in the last couple of decades has transformed it into an important platform where people get and share information across different domains, be it in entertainment, business, or politics. The rise in popularity of social media raises critical questions on its use and various aspects that influence the activity. An important factor when it comes to the popularity of social media relates to the opportunity that it provides its users to create and share information with very little cost. In the present day interconnected environment, people draw from the benefits that ubiquitous networks and how they provide unparalleled opportunities for economic and cultural growth.
In Kenya, research has shown that the public’s primary motivation for the use of social media includes acquiring information, entertainment and pleasure, and social interactions representing 31, 28, and 24 percent, respectively (SIMElab, 2019). Information acquisition and exchange are, therefore, at the top of the social media user’s interest. While most Kenyans use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, the primary reason they are most active in politics, news, and entertainment. Studies have shown that most Kenyans access social media platforms using their mobile phones while in rural areas, they access cyber cafes. Easier access to the internet has meant more Kenyans can be found online. Therefore, social media platforms have gone up tremendously, with the majority of users between the ages of 24 and 35 who spend more than 3 hours daily on social media (SIMElab, 2019).
Social media is an important platform when it comes to online debates and discussions. Ever since the internet was first launched within the country in the early 1990s, its use has steadily risen and even earned the country the name Silicon Savannah due to its dynamic ICT sector (SIMElab, 2019). The industry has experienced a lot of growth in recent years giving birth to globally acclaimed solutions like the M-Pesa. In Africa, Kenya is ranked among the top three countries with good internet access alongside Egypt and Nigeria. According to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK), as of the end of 2018, the total internet subscription stood at approximately 45 million (CAK, 2019). A large percentage of that figure accessed the internet through mobile phones, making it more accessible to a broader number of people. Internet-enabled mobile devices have led to a rapid increase in the development of social networking sites. Some of the most used and visited social networking sites in Kenya are Facebook and Whatsapp, taking up 88.5 and 88.6 percent. However, Twitter remains an important platform for influencers, like media companies, politicians, celebrities, and many other individuals.
Twitter microblogging and social networking services allow posting and sharing short messages or ‘tweets’ as is commonly described. The short messages are currently restricted to 280 characters, but it was half that number in the early years. Twitter users can also share photos and short videos. Any shared information can be publicly viewed, allowing for a platform where there are free interactions by individuals from all walks of life. In recent years Twitter has been used for communication by organizations both in the public and private sectors. Its diverse offering and wide reach have made it an important platform for commercial activity and marketing. The flexibility of its use on a wide array of mobile devices has led to increased popularity. Therefore, it is not surprising that media companies are using it to share news and influence public debates. Influential people from political leaders, entertainers, and artists use Twitter to communicate to the public and their fan base.
In Kenya, the increased internet penetration and availability of more affordable mobile devices have meant more Kenyans can now participate in online discussions. There are now more opportunities for receiving information and responding to content. One such example is the online platform #KenyansonTwitter hashtag, which is commonly known as #KOT. It has grown to become a platform for heated discussions on a variety of issues that touch on the country (Tully & Ekdale, 2014). Twitter hashtags have been a focus of many discussions on a variety of issues and, in many instances, has encouraged a massive following. Retweeting capabilities have also helped people propagate information, thus informing and influencing users’ perception of a host of issues.
The ability to share information and influence the discussions within society form the foundation for agenda-setting theory. Agenda setting provides a perspective of the media influence, which lies in the ability to describe the issues that are considered important. The proponents discovered the media’s influences on the public after carrying out investigations of three U.S presidential campaigns carried out between 1968 and 1976 (McCombs and Shaw, 1972). The focus of the research was on information and awareness. The research concluded that mass media has a significant influence on what the voters saw as major issues during the respective campaigns. Similarly, social media is being used by influencers to sway the public’s perception. For example, businesses within Kenya and Nigeria depend on the influencers to push their products. Influencers typically have a large online following or a fan base which the then influence to purchase certain products (Aptantech, 2020). The influencers then get paid by the organizations. Influencer marketing has gained traction in the two countries, and more companies are approaching influencers to promote their products through various online channels.
Given that agenda setting analyses present in the literature provide a wide array of results, the study’s primary purpose will be to present a review of literature discussing theoretical and empirical premises that have been achieved in agenda-setting. It will also be to analyze Twitter’s role as a public and political agenda-setting platform and assess its influence as a microblogging tool. The way the report has been structured is intended to answer the primary questions on how Twitter and the blogs posted therein express the public’s opinion and enhance the interactive relationship between the media and the public. Secondly, whether Twitter is being used to perpetuate the agenda-setting capabilities for specific actors based on their influential nature.
Problem Statement
Mainstream media’s influence on the Twitter platform’s public agenda is a major concern and is believed to set the agenda for public discussions and debates on certain issues. It is believed that agenda-setting through social media influences the public’s agenda by leading the audience’s attention towards what is perceived to be important issues. Twitter is used by opinion leaders, media organizations, and other online groups to influence the public. When people get exposed to incidental news through social media and information conveyed to the users, it tends to set the agenda reflecting mass media content.
Purpose of the Study
The study’s main purpose is to carry out and present a review of the literature discussing theoretical and empirical premises that have been achieved in agenda-setting. It will involve analyzing Twitter’s role as a public and political agenda-setting platform and assess its influence as a microblogging tool.
Objectives and Research Questions
The primary objective is to assess how external influences or interests use Twitter to sway or force media coverage and discussion of social issues.
- How are opinion leaders influencing or initiating public discussions on specific issues?
- How media organizations influence the public through covering and discussing societal concerns?
- What is the role of KOT and other online groups in influencing the media agenda?
Literature Review
Agenda Setting on Social Media
Ever since the broadcast era began, there have been comparatively fewer media outlets. Even then, the programming could reach wider audiences, and therefore, it had a significant influence over the public agenda. In the present day, however, a lot has changed in the media environment, especially with the advent of social media. There are now far more media sources that have allowed for tailoring the media and its consumption to suit the audience’s interest. Such changes, it is believed, could potentially shape public agenda. With increased mass media changes, more individuals opt to receive their news through the social media platform (Gottfried and Shearer 2016). Therefore, social media influences can affect the agenda-setting effect of shared information on political news associated with their exposure to political information and those that may have opted to avoid it. According to a 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center, approximately 66 percent of Facebook users stated that they received news from the social media platform while 62 percent got exposed to the news while doing other things online (Gottfried and Shearer 2016).
Most social media users get on the platforms to network, share information, and socialize. Most times, they do not seek news or are not interested in political issues. Nevertheless, once they open their Twitter or Facebook accounts, they get exposed to new information. A recent study that analyzed stories shared over a 6-month period demonstrated that nearly 13 percent of Facebook’s information falls under political, national, and world affairs news (Bakshy et al. 2015). Therefore, it means that for approximately ten posts that individual scrolls through on their Newsfeed section, there is at least one that carries information about the politics and other ‘hard news,’ further affirming the influence that such news has on the audience.
According to an analysis by the New York Times, consumers depend more on friends and online connections for news (Grzywińska and Batorsk, 2016). The online platform has replaced the traditional filters of institutionalized news media portals with more social ones. Thanks to a large extent, the Web 2.0 capabilities, the social media users, and the audiences, in general, have more capabilities to share content, which enhances transmission. Therefore, it means that application and content are not created and published by specific individuals, but instead, they are modified continually by everyone using a participatory and collaborative approach (Hruska and Maresova, 2020). Social media is, therefore, increasingly being seen as the primary news source. Those topics that are seen to be more popular tend to receive more shares on Facebook and Twitter, and they end up acting as informational echo chambers. When people get exposed to incidental news via social media and information conveyed to the users, it tends to set the agenda reflecting mass media content.
The primary approaches in agenda setting on social networking sites can be viewed from the paradigm that a given news media set the audience’s agenda or the public. The news item provides a number of issues that individuals consider as important. In the present day, news and information that individuals receive are shared and posted by the users’ friends, followers, or other institutions (Grzywińska and Batorsk, 2016). Therefore, it means that the social networking site sets the agenda for other users by being the primary source of information. The users’ interactions and distributions are done through news filtering approaches such as sharing, reposting of videos, and images. The number of likes or shares has determined the importance of a given content; the more the number is under a given story, the better the chance that it being shared and perpetuated.
According to a Pew Research study done in 11 emerging economies across the globe, the social media users interviewed claimed that they often receive false and misleading information on social media. The study’s findings showed that up to 28 percent of adults relied on the platform for political and global news, they stated that the information was more up to date compared to more traditional sources (Smith et al. 2019). The younger and more educated relied more on social media for the news. The findings demonstrate how important social media is to a large percentage of the public, but it also reveals that they can also be deceptive and biased in their reporting. The Pew Research study showed that up to 31 percent of Kenyan adults do not trust the news they receive from social media (Smith et al. 2019). The in-person discussion made possible on online platforms like Twitter and Facebook is a critical information source for most people online and points to the issue of the gullibility of the followers. With no room left to fact check, they fall prey to deceptive information, which illustrates the power of agenda-setting and its effects.
The Pew Research study and others demonstrate the tremendous influence that social media and influencers have on the public. That advantage has been used for commercial gain as more and more influencers help push products for different businesses in Kenya and other countries across the globe. A recent study by Geopoll showed that 100 percent of the respondents interviewed in Kenya follow an online influencer (Kibuacha, 2020). Most of those influencers are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, focusing on lifestyle, fashion, and tech categories. The study demonstrated the influential power that they wield over their followers. One influencer who has used the spotlight is Elsa Majimbo, who has earned a great following since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her comical monologues have earned her a massive following of more than 415,000 people on Instagram from fans from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria (Salaudeen, 2020). The vast following has opened up avenues for her; she now works with the MAC Cosmetics to develop content that would promote the company’s products in fun ways.
Twitter and Public Discussions
On Twitter, hashtags help users identify any given topic using the features of Web 2.0 user-generated metadata, which categorizes different content like blogs, photosharing, bookmarking, among others. In recent years there has been increased usage of the hashtags on Twitter, which has helped develop an online platform for expressing one’s views and engaging others in discussions. In Kenya, the hashtag and Twitter platform, in general, has been used to discuss social issues, politics, development, and changes in society (Meraz & Papacharissi, 2013). The effectiveness of hashtags in attracting attention has been studied and considered a tool to generate ad hoc communities and act as amplifiers of messages, making them more visible and easier to find (Sharma, 2013). For example, a recent story shared by Mohammed Mursi on his Twitter feed on a multipurpose garden seat by a juakali artisan was viewed by approximately 2.3 million people. As a result, the artisan’s job has received wide recognition and boosted his business. In his Tweet, Mursi hashtagged Jeff Koinange, and Victoria Rubadiri, who also has a massive following, and the story ended up being aired on national TV.
Public discontent and discussions have also originated from the Twitter platform. A good example is the #SomeoneTellCNN, which was a hashtag message that originated in 2012 following the CNN report on a terrorist grenade attack in Nairobi. CNN reported it as “Violence in Kenya.” The hashtag was used again in 2013 prior to the presidential election after CNN did another dubious story about a militia group (Tully and Ekdale, 2014). Kenyans were swift to respond affirming the notion of agenda-setting theory, especially in the ‘Violence in Kenya’ story that was viewed as reinforcing stereotypes of the country as being a violent place. Opinion leaders and Kenyans, in general, used the platform to express their displeasure.
The country’s former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka contributed to the discussion, and wrote, ‘It is extremely irresponsible for CNN to paint Kenya as a nation in chaos while we are victims of terror. #SomeoneTellCNN (@skmusyoka, March 11, 2012) and another local influencer Winnie Michelle Kenduiywa was among the first to tweet using the hashtag stating: #SomeoneTellCNN to do their homework! (@winmitch, March 11, 2012) (Tully and Ekdale, 2014).
The #KOT, perhaps the more famous one that is increasingly being used by an international organization, represents a grouping of users that take part in individual expression while engaging with a broader discussion about the country and its people. The #KOT has given its participants opportunities for meaningful connections, debates, and discussions. It is evident that popular hashtags have the ability to create spaces that enable rapid exchange of information where the users can contribute and endorse a message through retweets likes and reactions on the statement and replied made by other users.
The influences of agenda-setting theory are evident, as proposed by Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs. They insisted that media plays a critical role in influencing and shaping political reality by determining pivotal issues guided by the amount of information within a given news story, and the position was taken (McCombs and Shaw, 1972). The politicians make headlines globally and benefit from such publicity from the ‘tweets’ that they post. From President Donald Trump to local politicians like Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Hon Junet Mohammed, the political class wields immense power over their followers and the public in general and made possible through social media. Their public spats or political discussions make headlines on mainstream media and are often retweeted on social media, setting political discussions.
The impact that the media, politicians, brand pushers, celebrities, and others have on the public cannot be overlooked. However, it introduces the complexity of such influence. Kibuacha (2020) points out how that sway has opened up room for gullibility, misinformation, and other biases. Up to 35 percent of adults in research by Pew Research of 11 emerging economies, including Kenya, stated that they trust the political news that they receive on social media. A median of 55 percent state that they trust those sources in someway with Kenya and other countries like India and Venezuela having highs of up to 70 percent (Smith et al. 2019). It affirms the critical roles that social media plays in influencing political and public discussions in general. A paltry 31 percent said that they believed the news, but that is much lower than those who trust it, leaving little room to question the information and influences (Smith et al. 2019). With no room for a fact check, more people are misled, and as demonstrated earlier, the influencers would more often benefit financially.
References
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