Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2022

Date of Submission

2022-08-29

Advisor

Shahzeb Ahmed Hashim, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Abstract

The emergence of social media has had a profound effect on how political parties around the world engage with their audience to garner support. This paper aims to study the influence of social media on the general public of Pakistan. Over the last decade, political leaders, as well as the parties they are affiliated with, have found social media to be the most effective vessel of communication with their voter base. Be it Donald Trump in the US, the Brexiters in the UK or Imran Khan’s PTI in Pakistan, social media has become the foremost arsenal in the propaganda machinery of political parties and movements. This paper aims to study the influence of social media on the general public of Pakistan. The study is descriptive in nature, using the journey of PTI, one of the leading political parties in the country, as the structure upon which the qualitative analysis of social media and its quantified impacts will be based. Using the journey of PTI, one of the leading political parties in the country, as the structure upon which the qualitative analysis of social media and its quantified impacts will be based. By extracting objective details regarding the political movements of PTI, it was established that they efficiently used social media to engage with the passive population of Pakistan, motivating them to take action. As such, the influence of social media in the political narrative of PTI is validated and ascertained using similar circumstances observed in the 2016 US elections. The power of social media on the masses has severe implications for democracy which will be addressed in detail.

Pages

33

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