Social Media and Policy Issues

 

 The first type of social media I would use to enforce my policy idea would be creating a facebook page.  Everyone can create a facebook page no matter how old or young they may be.  The facebook page also opens the door for communications to occur between individuals’ that may have some personal concerns or questions and simply invoice the individual involved.   I would also use facebook because it reaches so many different people all over the world, its nationwide,  and is almost as large as its  own country (Auer, 2011).

I would also use youtube videos as a means to communicate my policy issue.  I would use youtube due to the benefit of having visuals to help parents understand exactly what is going on with their child.  The videos would also be engaging and interesting to other individuals that do not have children  but may have seen a child with similar signs/symptoms.    My focus topic emphasizes the importance of early intervention and I believe if parents are able to actually see how “Autism” manifests the red flags may go up a lot sooner than later and they may start to ask more questions.  The video will simply open the door to determine what may or may not be happening. (Auer, 2011).

The audience I would mainly focus on getting involved would be the parents, teachers and physicians.  They are the ones I would focus on due to their significant involvement in the first year of the childs’ life and how much they are around the child. I would also focus on the three groups to expand their knowledge on the specific topic of autism.

There are multiple benefits to using social media.  In fact, the benefits are evident in areas where laws have been changed as a result of individuals sharing their opinions.  One benefit of social media is the option to gain a worldwide viewpoint from individuals’ all over the world concerning different topics.  A second benefit is how strongly the friends in an individuals’ social network stay together and in contact with one another.  Last, but not least individuals’ are not afraid to be completely honest with their thoughts and opinions.  Not as many people choose to remain anonymous but are open to share with others that they are the ones that shared a particular message (Hong, June, Sung-Min, 2011).

One challenge to using social media is the presence of so many different types of advertisements and advice groups online.  It’s hard to tell who is an expert or who has ever  really tried anything.  Another drawback to social media is the added pressure it puts on the government to make decisions.  Some pressure may be good, but when a major issue is involved it is not good to rush thorough decision making. Last, but not least social media can spread false information related to politics or any issue in the world very quickly.  This is an issue due to the fact that most social media is the opinion of an individual and not a collective group.  Often an individual starts to add fuel to a fire and sometimes the fire can get out of control (Hung et al 2011).

 

Social media is everywhere.  If a policy issue is addressed in this century it is almost inevitable that social media will have to be used in some form or fashion. 

 

References

Auer, M. R. (2011). The policy sciences of social media. Policy Studies Journal, 39(4), 709–736.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

June, P., Hong, C., & Sung-Min, P. (2011). Social media's impact on policy making. SERI Quarterly, 4(4), 125–129.