Politics & Social Media = Controversial Trump Tweets?

Hi, welcome to my first podcast!

I was finally able to bring myself to making a podcast where I would talk about controversial topics and my opinions (since I love talking so much).

Today’s podcast covered the question: 'How has the rise of social media impacted contemporary politics in beneficial and problematic ways?' The reason I chose this topic was because of something I remembered not too long ago – controversial tweets! Yes, I’m talking about political tweets to be more specific.

In this podcast, I wanted to convey the argument of how social media has impacted contemporary politics in more problematic ways. Mainly because of how uncensored you can be on the internet. Having this much freedom on the internet usually causes problems to appear because of controversial, emotional, or offensive opinions.

Through creating this podcast, I watched several commentary videos regarding this topic. I listened to other people’s perspectives on it and wanted to give my own as well. I used both scholarly and casual sites to find information about this on a more formal level with more evidence. After I had felt like I had enough factual information, I started planning my script. I created a script to keep me on track and to keep it simple for you all to understand.

While creating my script, I thought of ways I could include my research into my podcast smoothly. I first thought of just talking about the research I had done as one section of the podcast. However, I did a run through of my first draft and it sounded too awkward. So, I decided to change my script by incorporating my research while I answered the question – inserting direct/paraphrased quotes of the research I had done. I thought that reading controversial tweets would also be interesting for the audience to hear as well because it made the discussion less serious and more of a laid back discussion.

Since this was my first and personal podcast, I wanted to contribute all of my personal skills to this podcast. I decided to play a short song for my intro and outro on a keyboard mimicking a guitar. Adding a personal touch to my podcast was something I wanted. To record my podcast, I recorded it through my phone on the voice memos application. I didn’t need to edit the audio because I did it in one take. Uploading my podcast was easy as I used the site SoundCloud because it’s free and easy to upload on!

Some challenges I faced throughout the creative process of this podcast was the flow. I wanted to make this podcast an easy listen and also an interesting one. To do this, I kept my points clear and simple while also making it interesting through making it sound like a conversation. I wanted my podcast to be a way for people to relax and to feel accompanied if they have no one to talk to.

What I learned from creating this podcast was how fun it was. Since I love talking a lot, this was a great way to release some of that trait of mine and help others while doing so. I also learned that making a podcast is quite tough as well. The process of editing, uploading, and planning. I was glad that I created a script, because without it I would have stuttered and gone off track. I hope that my podcast reaches an audience that just wants an easy listen or who’s interested in topics that I’m interested in as well!

Reference List

Coles A (12 October 2020) US election: Donald Trump's 45 most controversial tweets, Sky News, accessed 13 September 2023.

Kern R (13 May 2022) Elon Musk could soon have a Trump-sized headache, Politico, accessed 20 September 2023.

Kruse LM, Norris DR, and Flinchum JR (2018) ‘Social Media as a Public Sphere? Politics on Social Media’, The Sociological Quarterly, 59(1): 62-84,

https://doi.org/10.1080/00380253.2017.1383143

Palmer S (18 January 2023) Trump, Tate and the Taliban: Which controversial figures have the Twitter blue tick?, Euro News, accessed 13 September 2023

Prabowo VC (20 Sep 2023) ‘Podcast Intro and Outro’ [song]

Smith A, Silver L, Johnson C, and Jiang J (13 May 2019) Publics think technology impacts the political environment in both positive and negative ways, Pew Research Center, accessed 13 September 2023.