My first Podcast!
In my podcast I focused on the topic of politics and Social media, more specifically how rising social media impacted contemporary politics. I organised my podcast with 5 separate sections, an opening (where I began my podcast, with a brief introduction to myself and my topic), an introduction to the main points I was going to discuss (Social Media changing the traditional ways of running an election campaign) and (how social media is the main communication tool in the current political world), an elaborate discussion about social medias impact in election and how it provided a new way to run campaigns and garner the attention of the public, where I strategically placed my major case study of Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008; An evaluation of the current usage of social media in politics as a major communication tool and the significance it holds and finally a conclusion to express a final statement about the impact of social media on politics being a major change to its communication but a minor change to the general political governance or traditions.
I researched both website-based articles and scholarly sources for more information regarding social media’s impact on politics. Using Scholarly sources referenced below I was able to extract the general answer to my topic question, that social media has primarily impacted the communication side of politics rather than the structural or methodological side of politics. Reading through various reports on public engagement in politics both online and offline I was able to format the answer to my initial topic question. I also researched many articles (also referenced below) about real-life case studies that show the impact social media has made in politics. I read several articles to formulate how Obamas campaign utilized social media effectively in 2008 where Social media was still an upcoming medium. Through the readings, I formulated my case study to discuss in my podcast.
I used YouTube audio library to find and use a royalty free music track for my podcast. By having a more informative tone to my podcast I only wanted to include a singular track with a general non-emotional feel. Therefore, I opted for a simple baseline with funky beats in the background. And when using the track in my podcast I adjusted the volume in order to make sure that my vocals had more dominance rather than the music. I also focused on fading in the music track and having some leeway before my recording would start to enable the listener to adjust to the tone and the feel of the podcast. Furthermore, I positioned my introduction, more specifically my name to begin as the music track’s beat began. This subtle adjustment was made to ensure that the flow of the music track and my vocals felt seamless and in sync as much as possible.
When researching I found no problems or challenges as there was an abundance of information. However, it was fairly challenging to then format the information to fit a 5-minute time frame. So in order to ensure that the time frame was within 5 minutes, I individual recorded each section of my podcast to then later edit. When exporting my final edited piece in audacity I faced a hindrance. I was unable to export in MP3 as Audacity was unable to find the files required to export in that format. Therefore, I had to install separate files and manually locate them in order to complete the export. Overall, I learned and practiced the general process of Podcasting and experiences some of the common errors found when completing such a task. I am pleased with my final project and enjoyed podcasting.
REFERENCE
Devumi. 2018. Social Media Case Study: How Barack Obama Became President. [ONLINE] Available at: https://devumi.com/2017/12/social-media-case-study-how-barack-obama-became-president/. [Accessed 23 May 2018].
Destiny Jackson. 2018. How Obama Used Social Media to Win the 2012 Elections – Destiny Jackson . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.destinyjackson.org/blogs/articles-essays/how-did-the-obama-administration-use-social-media-to-win-the-2012-elections. [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Gerodimos, R, & Justinussen, J 2015, ‘Obama’s 2012 Facebook Campaign: Political Communication in the Age of the Like Button‘, Journal Of Information Technology & Politics, 12, 2, pp. 113-132, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts
Bode, L. (2012). Facebooking it to the polls: A study in online social networking and political behaviour. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 9, 352–369. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2012.709045 [Accessed 24 May 2018]
Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S. and Katz, J. (2018). We Face, I Tweet: How Different Social Media Influence Political Participation through Collective and Internal Efficacy. [online] Oxford Academic. Available at: http://www.citethisforme.com/au/referencing-generator/harvard [Accessed 23 May 2018].
Use of Social Media for Political… (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312468953_Use_of_Social_Media_for_Political_Engagement_A_Literature_Review [accessed May 25 2018].
Music
Talky Beat by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/265/talky-beat
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org