SNS, and Elections in South Korea

“Data analytics through SNS is a global trend. Data never lie.” Mr. Park, professor of Young-Nam University, said.

Nowadays, election strategy using SNS is a big issue for Parliamentary elections next year in South Korea. Political experts predict that this election will be the SNS war. Many politicians started to use SNS and someone employed SNS experts. More recently, many institutions for SNS election strategy have been established. They provides candidates with what issues voters have an interest in are, which agenda is more favorable, and how candidates can appeal more to voters, throughout analyzing SNS data.

 

As a matter of fact, until last election in 2012, SNS relatively had not been a famous tool for Korean politicians because most voters were not familiar with SNS at that time and also didn’t believe contents of SNS. Sometimes, SNS was abused as a channel to spread malicious rumors. Moreover, young people using SNS have less interest in politics and have a tendency not to vote. Therefore, it is true that most politicians in last election focused more on traditional media, like TV and newspapers, and a massive rally for their electioneering.

However, the trend is changing. Over 80% of Korean are using smartphone and proportion of SNS users among voters has increased. The influence of SNS is also getting bigger and bigger. Many SNS users have started to express themselves about serious political issues through SNS and their expressions have started to be public opinion. In reality, the best example can be seen in the mayor of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. He makes the best use of SNS in order to communicate with citizens and share his policies. As long as I know, he would be the first mayor using SNS actively.

SNS in Korean politics is new stage and challenge. I am going to note what tactics will be used in Korean election next year.