Effects of Social Media on Government - Essay Sample

Introduction

The current world is now dominated by technology and social media. The growth is at an alarming rate, and social interaction has been so eased. Both adults and youths have already joined the emerged social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in large numbers to interact with others in every corner of the world (Fallik, et al., 2020). The social media has affected individuals differently. Currently, social media is used as a helpful tool to change the lives of people. However, the same social media has brought some critical negative outcomes when it gets misused. Thus, while there are a few negatives in social media usage, there are still more significant outcomes because communication and interaction have been made stronger. This paper will elucidate the effects of social media on police, military, and government and the biblical worldview.

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Effects of Social Media on Police

Social media has significantly changed the law enforcement procedures and police operations in a great way. Its implications for policing’s operational as well as symbolic delineation is well known. The police amenities have leveraged distinguished visible digital spaces in the way of communicating with citizens, sculpting their public image (Intravia et al., 2018). Additionally, social media has leveraged augment enforcement by allowing citizens to expose, converse, and also mobilize in the areas of alleged injustices. Consequently, new media milieus are spots of a substantial brawl over the policing’s character, image, and connotations.

Additionally, social media is now widely used by police as a surveillance tool. Police have now discovered that social media is capable of providing valuable resources at a time when there are countervailing strains for fiscal restraints, community rendezvous, together with operational proficiency. In that context, police officers represent “knowledge workers” who are engaged in processing and evaluating riskbased information. In such a mandate, police in most nations are harnessing the potential of social media to deploy intelligence elements. Accordingly, police have used social media in conducting online surveillance, reconstructing events, together with the extraction of official information about the happenings, personalities, and impetuses of suspects and victims. Accessing the digital content, which is difficult to destroy or obscure, has enhanced investigations.

Social media has transformed the way police communicate with the people. Traditionally, law enforcement agencies relied on mass media only. However, today the police have engaged social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to engage the public. Social media has allowed the police officers to proximately convey risk information, by sharing and reposting, where the citizens further circulate.

The fact that social media has enhanced surveillance and communication is built upon the power of computer analytics and big data used in predictive surveillance. Although social media has facilitated surveillance in policing, some problems have emerged, too, as a result of data shared on social platforms. First, social media is populated by people seeking self-aggrandizement, drama, or pleasure in their lives. There also entities who look forward to making police officers look bad. Such actions have thus put these police officers in precarious positions of intermingling with strange individuals who may be seeking a bait or a trap of ruining the officer’s career. Still, there is personal information from public records that are accessible online or in social media, which makes it easier to dispense and share information, thus endangering the officers together with their families.

Secondly, with the growing excitement on law enforcement, police works are hot topics within social networking sites. With advanced cameras and technology, it only takes a short time to record an arrest or a police confrontation. Some individuals may post or even edit such videos and post the only part they want, usually the controversial portions. There are cases of such postings that may completely inflict mayhem on police, together with obliteration of the police public image and credibility. Outraged offenders can also, without much difficulty, reach out to the officers before they end their patrol shifts, which is detrimental.

Effects of Social Media on Military

Maintenance of social media is typical for the soldiers in the military. They are obliged to abide fully by military policies. In the arena of the military, the effects of social media are thus also experienced, just like in other governing bodies of the government (Morrow 2019). The effects of social media are both beneficial and problematic. The beneficial impacts of soldiers include social contacts with family, friends, support groups, and networking prospects with professional establishments.

It is a well-known fact that soldiers have critical tasks for national security. They are occasionally sent in stressful missions, away from their close allies and families. Thank social media because it helps them maintain personal connections with families and friends. When they communicate with friends and family via chats or pictures, they are able to relieve stress. That means, even when these soldiers are away in deadly missions, they are still able to be in touch with the world through social media (Zeitzoff, 017). Additionally, the army benefits from social media because they are now able to voice their concerns, and they also an effective communication platform. For example, the soldiers are able to get some feedback from countrymen, which helps them to improve their fighting force.

Despite the beneficial effects of social media that have been highlighted above, there are some other problems that have been associated with the usage of social media in the military. There are emerging issues like unacceptable political views, posts that feature discriminatory remarks or inappropriate information, online fraternization, together with copyright infringement. Political conversations are usually sensitive matters that can cause a backlash in-country operations. In the military, there have been cases of soldiers expressing their personal views on the political climate of the country that has led to violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (Markowitz et al., 2019).

The military is a sensitive arm of government, and the soldiers, together with other military members, are bound fully to the contract they sign. They are unwearable to the commander in chief. With the free accessibility of social media, there are soldiers in the military who posts derogatory information about political leaders, which is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Although it is against military policies, soldiers post inappropriate posts about their barracks or offices through social media.

Effects of Social Media on Government

Social media effects on the government have been primarily a game-changer in a number of ways. Governments all over the world have used social media to build relationships with the citizens (Starke et al., 2020). Social media has made it possible for the government to get feedback from the citizens very easily. It has enabled citizens and other stakeholders to get more information in a convenient manner, which makes them more acquainted with governments’ events.

Additionally, the government has now largely relied on social media to check its performance based on public opinions (Song & Lee, 2016). It is now easy for the government to track the mood and sentiments of the public through social media, which it can use for effective decision making. Social media has thus provided crucial information to the government that is useful in planning. Doing so has enabled the government to deliver to its citizens’ information, and the effort of searching the required information has been dramatically lowered.

The social media has also affected the communication between the citizens and their government significantly. For example, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic affected all the aspects of the public sector, including communications (Starke et al., 2020). At such times, the public still needs regular updates of the same. Social media has enhanced communication in which the government reaches out to citizens quickly. Social media has made it possible for the government to give directions to the public with ease and within a short time.

Additionally, social media has impacted the way the government engages with the public. It is obvious that an engaged public is always happy. For example, before making any decisions, the government can now engage the public through social media (Park et al., 2016). Social media has enabled the government to build trust and being more transparent. Occasionally, Trump’s government has been using social media to build public trust. Social media offers a seamless avenue of remaining transparent and clear with its constituents. For example, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been leveraging Instagram, explaining to the followers how the Congress is operating which makes her appear more authentic to all the citizens across the world. The past governments have been using social media to explain their success stories to the public.

Biblical Worldview of Social Media

There are many questions on whether the Word of God is compatible with social media’s modern culture. The obvious answer is “No” as apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians has clearly delignated specific principles of biblical principles that concern Cristian conduct and practices, which includes social media usage. Paul, in the book of Ephesians, instructs, “Be ye, therefore, the followers of God, as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1, King James Bible). On social media, people are always commenting, liking, or following what other people post, which is sometimes ungodly stuff. Such followings to “earthly” men are against Paul’s teaching in the book of Ephesians.

The Biblical view or perspective, as Paul teaches, is that the world and all its entire pleasures are what people follow in social media sites. The primary and also the tragic tendency is that, instead of following or being influenced to walk in Christ’s example of love and compassion, people in the modern cultures of social media walk with the dark world. Paul continues extrapolating that for one to be a follower of Christ; he has to “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for sweet-smelling offering” (Ephesians 5:2, Kings James Bible). Therefore, as depicted in this verse, the Biblical worldview shows that people’s lives must display Christ and diffuse the “sweet-smelling offering.” Such a view shows that the aspirations that people have of walking in Christ’s love are not sincere. The people have allowed themselves to be bombarded and also enticed on social media by the evils mentioned in the verses.

Conclusion

The current social media culture has both negative and positive effects on the police, military, and government. Social media has affected law enforcement procedures, and police officers can now communicate with citizens effectively. Police are now able to use social media as a surveillance tool in what is known as social media policing. The negative effect is that offenders may use social media against the police, which jeopardizes their lives. In the military, the effects include enhanced communication and maintain a personal connection. The government is now able to use social media to get feedback and also integrating the public.