Corby's Use Of Social Media

However, Corbyn won the party leadership twice on two strong campaigns that could be described as anti-spin. He seems to be the antithesis of practiced messages, and has been hailed as being authentic by many as a result (Benady 2015). Both his leadership campaigns were rooted on the members understanding his vision for the UK, something which the other candidates perhaps did not have. Corbyn may be far to the left of most British people, but his beliefs and behaviour are genuine in a way that other politicians may not be. Instances of such include cancelling a TV interview with the Andrew Marr show the morning after he was elected as leader for the first time. Instead, he spent his first morning as leader of the opposition at a fundraising

This is important as social media is becoming increasingly important as a news source. A survey published by the Office of National Statistics found that 63 per cent of British adults use social media every day, up from 45 per cent in 2011, with 60 per cent reading online news (Office for National Statistics 2016). Corbyn utilises social media to bypass mainstream media and has himself said: “I think the role of electronic and social media is absolutely massive. The way of doing politics is seen as very out of date” (Waugh 2015). One example is the ‘Grime4Corbyn’ campaign that emerged in May 2017 which encourages grime fans to register to vote in the election (Collier 2017). As a result, Corbyn has been endorsed by some of the most influential grime musicians in the UK, including: Akala, JME, and Stormzy. This strategy targets young people to engage with politics. Due to grime’s increasing success and influence, it has given Corbyn a level of street credibility on social media. Social media improves access for citizens. The barrier of entry to the internet is lower in comparison to other forms of news media. This is significant as the internet has lowered the costs of information and enhanced the capacities of less-resourced groups to participate in the public sphere (Mazali 2011: 90). It can be said that Corbyn has a strong communications strategy online as he does not dislike this form of media. He has achieved the largest mandate ever for a Labour leader and massively increased party membership (BBC News 2016). It seems that he is getting through to people, negating the argument that he has a poor communications strategy. However, only the people already supporting Corbyn will hear his messages as he continues to alienate the mainstream media. It can be seen that the framework of filter bubbles and echo chambers within social media reinforces their own viewpoint, where people