Workshop on Politicians and Social Media in the Middle East and North Africa Program
In the last several years, throughout the world, politicians have invested in social media campaigns, including in poor countries, where a relatively small percentage of the voting public have access to the Internet. Political actors can and do employ social media in a variety of ways: 1. To introduce and present their political programs, parties and agenda to their local, national and international communities; 2. To interact with and maintain regular contact with citizens about common political issues; and 3. To use the affordances the affordances of social and new media to frame the agenda on specific political, social, economic and cultural issues.
Furthermore, social media enables politicians to bypass traditional mainstream media to directly speak to the electorate, this ensuring greater control over the narratives crafted and circulating about them. There are many documented cases in both the global North and global South of social media driving the agenda of traditional, mainstream media.
In the Middle East and North Africa, an increasing number of major local and national politicians are building social media presences and for a variety of reasons. What do these developments mean for the future of politics and political campaigning in the region and in Morocco in particular? And what impact have they made? And what does the future hold for the role of social media in politics?
The Institute of Global Media, Democracy, and Culture is proud to present a one-day workshop on political social media in Morocco.
Workshop Program
10:00AM—Introduction, Key issues in Political Social Media Studies in the Middle East, North Africa and Morocco
11:00AM—Keynote Speaker
Jaafar Aksikas, Columbia College Chicago
12:30AM—Session 1: Politicians Online
2:00PM—Break
2:30PM—Session 2: Stakeholders and Agenda Setting
4:00PM—Break
4:30PM—Panel: The Mechanics of Social Media Outreach
6:00PM—Open Discussion on Building an Interdisciplinary Community on Political
Social Media
Sponsored by: IGAMDC
