UNAIR NEWS – There are many interesting research topics on communication studies. One of them is on social media. This topic is not only trending but more than that, movement and interaction in social media also often deemed as the reflection of the real society.

In principle, social media’s connection with communication studies is close as social media is the latest way of communication which is popular in any social levels. Not all regions in Indonesia have access to social media but at least  most of them are connected by the internet, and the people must know applications like facebook, twitter, whatsapp, blackberry messenger and other apps.

There are so many things we can study from social media which is then used to take measures, policies, or event to formulate a solution on politics, social and cultures and so on.

“Lately, there have been many researches which studied political issues in relation with social media,” said Rendy Pahrun Wadipalapa S.Ikom., MA, a lecturer of Communication UNAIR.

All this time, social media users are growing from any ranges of age. There are many young users of social media. The phenomena of politics, responses and tendency persepective of netizens (the social media users) are interesting to study. Why? Because political branding can be formulated in social media.

As elaborated previously, not only political issues can be studied. Cultural shift, social interaction and community assumption on public policy can also be explored through social media. Moreover, state administration also reinforces their position in the cyberspace. Program publicization, information and interaction with the people are maximized through chatting concept in social media. (*)

Author: Rio F. Rachman
Editor : Dilan Salsabila