Rick Kelo – Social Media and Politics

There is a strange divide in our current political structure on the topic of social media. As technology continues to grow and improve, generations of individuals are growing up with their mobile devices and the internet as their primary news sources, social outlets, and means of entertainment. This generation, a significant portion of which are now active voters, spends more time than ever before on social media. As such, these social media outlets have huge potential for government officials and institutions who are looking to disseminate their information to large amounts of individuals and as quickly as possible. In short, despite the White House, the FBI, and President himself having their own social media outlets, there is still a significant lack on the internet of direct political involvement.

In contrast, many non-governmental, but still significant figures have taken to the internet as a means of getting their messages out there through Twitter, Facebook, and various blogging sites such as WordPress and BlogSpot. For economist and financial expert, RickKelo, understanding the complexities of the economy is a goal of his personal website. On his website he published articles about the current political climate and current trends in the economy, with articles such as “The Simple Economics of a Bubble”, “The Economics of a Tariff”, and even “Socialism and Star Wars”.

As an economist and financial expert, social media has helped Rick Kelo build an online presence and community surrounding his political and economic views. If more politicians were to embrace the rise of social media in this way, they would be able to influence and have a greater impact on the online narrative of current politics. Facebook, as an example, has more than 1.71 billion monthly active users around the world. What’s more, as of 2016, 78 percent of the United States population had at least one social networking profile that hey used within the past thirty days. There is no denying that social media has incredible potential for building communities and sharing information. Those politicians who have realized this are at a decided advantage in getting their message out there to the public. With the presidential election of 2016 rapidly coming to an end, economists and social media experts will have access to new statistics about social media and politics. For more information, see RickKelo’s Likes on StumbleUpon.com.