Over the years mainstream  media outlets have had a major influence over political elections. You can basically tell which candidate or political party a network supports by the number of positive and negative ads that are run for each candidate, by the type political talk shows that they air ,and the by number of negative stories they present for each candidate. These media outlets are suppose to stay neutral but their programming tells a different side.

Four years ago television and cable networks and major newspapers served as my information station to politics. I  viewed each major news station and read many articles about the different candidates in order to educate myself on each individual.  I watched  the debates, when I chose my candidates I received emails, joined their social websites. I stayed glued to the television on election night. when ever I  However, this election I was too busy to keep up with my normal avenues.

Most of my information came from twitter and facebook feeds.  I  occassionally watched the news.  I saw clips from the debates and I read a lot of political blogs.  I pretty much had my mind made up on who I was voting for before the candidates were announced. I preferred not to listen to the normal battery that candidates put the potential voters through.

I did meet a lot of new voters who used social media to gain information on the candidates. I noticed that there was a huge push to get people out to vote.  On just about every post on my news feed some one was posting about a candidate or a political party.  On the day of the election it seemed as if everyone was posting about the election. 

 One of the media outlets stated that social media was effecting the way people were voting. There were a lot of post urging people to stop posting about politics because their candidate appeared to be losing. At that point social media had no influence on the outcome because the voters had already made up there mind on who to vote for and had already voted.  

 People generally will vote how their parents vote. Social media has given new voters an opportunity to investigate and educate themselves  and make their own decisions.