Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 professor
2 Faculty chairman
3 PhD student, Tehran University
Abstract
Abstract
This research has focused on the monitoring dimension of social media and by examining the news related to the monitoring function of the media, it has investigated the effect of new media in monitoring famous people and officials. The statistical population is the political pages of the Instagram social network, and the sample includes three political Instagram pages with reformist, fundamentalist and independent tendencies. The sampling method is the total number of all posts related to the research topic. This means that through examining the content of these three important Instagram pages in the period of 2016, all the posts related to social network monitoring of famous people, officials and authorities have been extracted and until the writing of this research, the fate of each has been examined. Among approximately one thousand posts, 13 topics were identified that are related to the topic of this research. By examining these 13 issues, it was found that all the cases have finally led to the apology and withdrawal of the relevant official within a maximum of one week with the follow-up done on this social media. This indicates that not only the monitoring function of the media has been realized through social media, but wherever these media have entered into an issue, due to the nature of this media model, the relevant official has been forced to obey the public will quickly and in the least amount of time. Based on this, it can be said that with the emergence of social media, media monitoring of the power structure is pursued much more effectively than before.
Keywords: Supervision, Instagram, Social Media, Power
Introduction
Nowadays one of the most important reasons that made the role of the media more prominent is the influences they have on "public opinion". After the weakening of autocratic powers and the emergence of democratic systems in the world, "public opinion" and the need to pay attention to it has become one of the main variables in the field of political communication. In fact, in the examination of contemporary mass communication tools such as the press, news agencies, radio and television, satellite and internet media, they can be considered as the most important means of political communication from the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.
Before the emerging of social media, although mass media played an irreplaceable role in shaping public opinion, it was slowly and in a limited scope. In the age of social media, sometimes news becomes hot in less than an hour and reaches even to the most distant audience, which means a high formation of a new makeup in public opinion about a particular news. This new capacity has provided a different space for monitoring the power structure and power holders, meaning that the relationship between media and power has entered a new arena.
Purpose
This article focuses on the supervisory dimension of social media and by examining the news related to the supervisory function of the media, it has investigated the effect of modern media in monitoring the power structure. In addition the process of forming public opinion around some events in the social media and the performance of the officials after the social Media disclosure have been discussed. With regard to the proposed premises, the research questions can be expressed in the form of the following questions:
Is it possible to monitor the power structure through social media?
What has been the effect of monitoring the power structure through social media on officials and reducing corruption?
Methodology
This research was done by content analysis method. The statistical population is the political pages of the Instagram and the sample population includes three political Instagram pages with reformist, fundamentalist and independent tendencies. The sampling method is the total number of all posts related to the research topic. This means that by examining the content of these three important Instagram pages in the period of 2016, all the posts related to the monitoring of social media on famous people, officials and officials have been extracted and until the time of writing this research, the fate of each has been investigated.
Findings
By examining three important Instagram pages of the three fundamentalist, reformist and independent political tendencies with about a thousand posts in the period of 2016, 13 topics were observed in these three pages, which are related to the monitoring function of the media on famous people and officials, and these three pages have published in relation to these issues.
As it is known, all cases have finally led to the authorities' apology and withdrawal, or at least forced to answer and provide explanations. In all cases, within a period of one day to one week under the pressure of public opinion officials have been forced to respond and compensate, and even in some cases they have shown resistance against the negative wave created at first, but finally they have given up. This shows the strong monitoring performance of social media.
Conclusion
By emergence of social media in Iran, not only the media's supervisory function has been realized through social media, but wherever these media have entered into an issue, due to the nature of this kind of media, the relevant official has been forced to obey the public's will quickly at the least amount of time.
Areas of the power structure in which accountability cannot be seen before, with the advent of social media, they find themselves obliged to respond. In addition, it is impossible to ignore the fact that in some cases in the past, the authorities did not see a reason to respond, but with the shaping of public opinion and the creation of media pressure by social media, this issue gradually becomes a common practice. Officials see themselves and their performance in the eyes of the people, and for every word and action, there is a possibility for people's awareness. They could not stop people from taking any action or saying anything.
Therefore, it can be said that with the emergence of social media, media monitoring of the power structure has entered a new stage. Of course, there are some flaws in this process, such as the spread of rumors, the effect of psychological warfare, fake news, and the emergence of some immoral atmospheres such as media accusations.
Keywords
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