Social Media's Influence on Policy Issues

Social media is the modern form of mass communication.  Newspapers, television, magazines, and letter writing were major ways in which people shared and retrieved information.  Even though people still use those medias to communicate, the second by second dissemination of information is done through social media.  Social media can be instrumental in communicating policy issue to stakeholders as well as the general public.  

The two forms of social media I would use to communicate professional development policy issues would be Facebook and YouTube.  Facebook and YouTube are mass social media outlets with large user bases.  I will be able to disseminate timely information to a large groups of people.  The social media outlets would allow me the opportunity to educate others about professional development policy issues.  Audiences which would use Facebook and YouTube would be educators, administrators, directors,  policy makers, advocates, and education students because relevant, timely, research based information would be shared with all subscribes. 

One advantage of using Facebook to communicate my professional development policy issue is the ability to link early childhood professionals to other people through postings and dialogue.  People would be able to discuss professional development policy issues constantly.  This type of dialogue could lead to understanding changes needed to improve the professional development system.  A disadvantage of using Facebook to communicate my professional development policy issue would be attracting interested people to liking the Facebook page.  I would be limited to the people whom liked the page, and dependent on them to share the page with others.  

One advantage of using YouTube to communicate my professional development policy issue is the ability to share videos such as lectures, seminaries, or presentations on my topic.  A disadvantage of using YouTube to communicate my professional development policy issue would be trying to promote the YouTube channel, and making sure those interested were able to find it.