The Thai election just ended, the 42 -year -old "Political Internet Red" leader led by the Pagoda to get 151 seats, surpassing all opponents.The 36 -year -old former Prime Minister Daxin's daughter Peitan also performed well for the Thai party and obtained 141 seats.The total number of seats in the two political parties has exceeded half of the number of seats in the house (500).
In this fierce election, social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok) played a significant role.The front party, which stands out, was established in 2019. It is a younger and active youth party in Thailand. The party leader is a political amateur. With its strong social media power, it quickly became popular in Thailand and laid a huge foundation for voters.
Before the election, major political parties started the "Smoke -free War" and fiercely snatched voters in social media.In order to prevent the creation of false news and false information between the election parties, the Thai government took the lead in cooperating with popular social platforms such as TIKTOK and Facebook to fight against the bad phenomenon that may occur.The Election Commission and Tiktok jointly set up a "election center" to review misleading political content and combat the content of violations of election rules.
A report by the global public opinion monitoring company Meltwater and the British media agency We Are Social show that as of the eve of the election, there are about 52.3 million social media users in Thailand, accounting for about 72%of the national population.In addition to TIKTOK, the hottest platform also has Facebook and instant messaging software LINE.The Thai government has realized the political influence of social media on this election.
On the eve of the election, the Tower and Peitan are already "Internet celebrities". The former has more than 1.37 million followers on Facebook, and the latter has more than 500,000 followers on another social media Instagram.She belongs to the Thai party's fan volume only 29,000.The Tower was originally behind Peitan, but it successfully counterattacked in 10 days before the election. The support was anti -Super Peitan, and finally stood out, becoming the political dark horse of this election.After the election, former Thai Prime Minister Daxin publicly appreciated the Qianxian Party and Parli use social media forces to win the Thai election.
On the eve of the election, the polls and other institutions of the Political Science Association of Thailand's Agricultural University jointly launched an online simulation voting with the themeVoters (referring to youth between the age of 18 and 27) voters support the Tower.
Create a specific image in social media
Gen Z is characterized by the use of the Internet, smart devices and social media, and admire the "Infloncers" in the online world.The advanced party and the party leader, Pagoda, accurately harvested the flow of this group.On the eve of the general election, through the mainstream agency Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok, the Party has called for bold reforms, including modifying Article 112 of the sensitive Thai Criminal Law (known as the "insulting royal sin" or "disrespect"Sin), etc., shaped the image of the" anti -building movement "in the minds of the Z generation.Through the star effect of social media, the Pagoda successfully shaped the image of "Gao Fushuai, Social Elite, and Opinion Leaders".
Under the traditional media environment, voters are relatively negative, passive, and instilled. They are controlled by mainstream media such as newspapers, radio, television, magazines, etc.Turn.Ultra -large social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. not only become super -content communication platforms for traditional media such as integrated newspapers, radio, and television, but also can produce a "symbolic empowerment" experience.It has also become a favorable tool for political competition.Candidates have established consensus with voters through the launch of voters voting voters in social media, conducting online volunteer activities, email interviews, comments and comments, participating in online political discussions, and forming consensus with votersstatus.
The rise of social media also symbolizes the rise of a new "digital power".Social media will inevitably become a powerful tool for various political forces to recognize and mobilize social mobilization. Whoever masters it will become the leader of online opinion and can occupy the "digital power" advantage.With the rapid reversal of this Thai election as a sign, through the power of social media, it defeated the military background of the military background, which has long defeated the political scene in politics for a long time.Magic defeats magic. "In the future, social media will further reshape the new pattern of Southeast Asian politics, and bring the traditional solidified Southeast Asian royal family politics, military politics, family politics, and consortium politics, bringing the wind to refine.The cutting -edge value of social media is also reflected in convenience, instantaneous, cheapness, interaction, grassroots, individuality and explosiveness.The global growth consulting company Frost Sullivan reports that the global big data market size in 2022 was about $ 71.8 billion (about 97 billion yuan), and it is expected to have a more amazing explosion rate in the next 10 years.
At the same time, "digital power" is also a double -edged sword.In particular, the rise of technical forces such as algorithms, big data, and artificial intelligence will bring new impact on the security, justice and authenticity of political elections.
On the one hand, the algorithm technology that supports social media can discover the tendency, preferences, desires, emotions, and the possibility of influence through big data analysis.The user conducts precise push for the election concept and maximizes the voting will of voters through targeted "information induction, information filtering, and priority sorting".
On the other hand, "digital power" also brings the risk of "digital corruption" and "digital crime".In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Trump, a "net red" candidate with nearly 6 million fans, led the world's first social media election and successfully created the image of "Twitter governing the country".However, in the subsequent investigation of Congress, it was found that there were a large number of robots, false accounts, zombie networks, etc. on Twitter and Facebook, which were used to promote corruption allegations against competitors Hillary.These related political rumors and false news have induced voters' access to political news links that intend to affect voting tendency.So that before the 2018 US midterm elections, the Senate of the United States Congress also held a hearing, and summoned and pressed the three giants of Google, Twitter and Facebook.
The algorithm revolution has created an endless and inexhaustible "digital gold mine" -social media; the wide rise of social media has shaped the new "digital power" and eventually formedA new variable that reshapes the political pattern of Southeast Asian countries.But as in a sentence in economics- "If a product is free, you are a product." While using the "free product" of social media, governments of various countries should invest more energy into "real realizationProducts -voter power behind social media.
The author is a special researcher at Jinan University
