KUCHING: In digital democracy, it is important for any political parties to make the best use of social media in their strategic ways.
National Council of Professors (MPN) senior fellow Dato Dr Jeniri Amir said effective political marketing can actually be conveyed through social media as it is fast and published in real time.
He said social media needs to be utilised by political parties as to attract especially the youth, who are active in using social media.
However, he pointed out that there are also several loopholes when consuming information from social media such as misinformation and spreading of fake news.
“In this 15th General Election (GE15) context, the people should not only rely and solely believe in what’s uploaded on social media.
“They need to cross-check as some information might be false with hidden agendas or propagandas.
“Aside from social media, they should also read and refer to contents from the mainstream media,” he said in a talk on pre-nomination of candidates for GE15 which was aired live on TVS, today.
He stressed that political parties should put more emphasis towards the youth, especially with more social media exposure.
“Through social media exposure, it is one of the ways to win their hearts and minds, which in turn could affect their decision on who they will be voting for.
“There is also a tendency for them to vote for candidates over political parties,” he added.
