Lack Of Social Media In Australia

At the end of 2016, there were 13.5 million Australian households subscribed to an internet provider. This is around 90% of the population of Australia and the number continues to rise. Democracy, the form of government where the people choose their leader of the country through votes to form a government, is the foundation of Australia’s and most first world countries’ political system. Social media could see the downfall of democracy faster than first conceived. Social media opened the doors to people being able to share their voices but it does come at a risk. With so much information available it begs the question, ‘How much of this is genuine?’, ‘What are we not seeing?’, ‘Why do we see this?’, ‘Is this propaganda?’, and, ‘Are we in an

The 2017 Social Media Sensis Report found that 79 percent of Australians were on a social network site. Thus, it is likely many people to get their news from social media with a high number people who appear, based on comments, to only read the headlines. This leads to misunderstandings and accessing information taken out of context. One example of this sort of instance is when author J.K Rowling accused American President, Donald Trump, of not shaking the hand of a disabled boy. Tens of thousands of people saw and shared the tweet, but when she apologised for not reading into the whole story, only a few thousand people saw the follow up message. A situation like this is not uncommon and it does affect public opinion, leading to misjudgements threatening the country’s democracy. Democracy is built on the foundation that what the majority wants is considered the best for the country and when most people do not see all the facts, choices are based purely on their initial understanding of what may not be the complete story that could be based on misinformation often seen in media. If only half of the story is present then people are influenced by possibly false or partial information, thus threatening

Context becomes an issue throughout social media as the messages conveyed are often contorted, using headlines to provide many with their news of the world with information aiming to shock rather than inform. Another major issue with social media is that individuals and the government filter their information so that their experience of social media seems balanced but is instead biased information. Social media can affect the way people vote due to the power both celebrities and politicians have to influence many voters. The influence of political and social movements follow people into their homes via a social media feed, leading to the end of democracy, and politics, as we know it. To reduce the threat to democracy it would be best to inform people of the risks of relying on social media for information to ensure that people are informed of their decisions and the impact it has on the future of their