The increasing prevalence of social media in the lives of Americans has been shown to influence a broad number of cultural and economic issues, including the political arena.

Supporters and detractors of Athens’ controversial plan to increase property taxes by 12 mills to benefit city schools know this fact all too well. Those on both sides of the issue acknowledge the importance of social media in informing voters about the pros and cons, but both sides also cite the dangers of negative comments and false accusations.

“It’s become like a civil war to a certain degree, because it’s caused a rift between people who like each other but who are on opposite sides,” said Athens City Schools Superintendent Trey Holladay. “I hope when it’s over, the wounds can heal.”

Strength in numbers

As of Friday, the Facebook page for opposition political action committee Stop the Athens Small Business Tax had 568 “likes,” in addition to hundreds of posts from those for and against the property tax increase. The “vote yes” PAC, Citizens for Our Athens City Schools, had 950 likes as of Friday, and also featured hundreds of comments and posts about the tax issue.

Taken together, that’s more than 1,500 people who are engaged enough about the issue to “like” the opposing pages, though there is likely some overlapping “likes.” And while social media isn’t a new tool, its increasing presence in the political arena shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Experts also point out social media is being used increasingly to sway voter opinions.

A 2012 study in the journal “Nature,” found that “Facebook social messages increased turnout directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion by another 280,000 voters, for a total of 340,000 additional votes.” The report, titled “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization,” also found that “close friends exerted about four times more influence on the total number of validated voters mobilized than the message itself” and that “online mobilization works because it primarily spreads through strong-tie networks that probably exist offline but have an online representation.”

Dr. Jess Brown, professor of political science and justice studies at Athens State University, said the use of the various avenues of social media is now very pervasive among voters under 45. He added that younger voters live with access to these technologies in both their vocations and avocations.

“Social media driven via the personal computer has become the first time in history when there is truly a medium that is capable of a personalized/customized message for the individual, but also a mass medium in the sense of its capacity to be sent quickly to and accessed by large numbers,” he said. “Think of how quick and affordable this medium is. It is simply more functional as a tool for mass communication than TV, radio, telephone or mass mailings. A medium with these traits would seem to be an ideal tool for impacting voter opinion in a low turnout, single issue election like a property tax referendum.”

Good with the bad?

John Wahl, chairman of the Stop the Athens Small Business Tax PAC, said there are positives and negatives involved with social media. He doesn’t deny, however, it can be used as “a major tool” for any political group.

“I think the positive is the ability to share information with people, because at the end of the day, I hope that’s what both sides do,” he said. “The negatives are those individuals who attack other people, which is a lot easier to do when you’re looking at someone face to face.”

Holladay said he’s been the target of personal attacks on Facebook, and Wahl said the same is true for him.

“(Social media) is a great way to communicate and share photos of kids and grandkids, but people make it bad,” Holladay said. “We are human, and we make mistakes.”

Wahl said he’s been referred to as a “cult leader” by some on the “vote yes,” side, but he contended the ability to spread information outweighs any slings and arrows.

“I’ve been disappointed with some of the comments from the ‘vote yes’ and ‘vote no’ people, but (social media has enabled) new points that neither side was talking about,” he said. “The community leaders then see that and say, ‘We need to be talking about that.’ It gets individuals into the debate.”