The Impact of Social Media on Public Discourse: How Platforms Like TikTok and Twitter Shape Political and Cultural Discussions

Abstract

This article examines the transformative impact of social media platforms on contemporary public discourse, with particular attention to Twitter and TikTok. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining media studies, political communication, and digital sociology, this research analyzes how these platforms' unique affordances, algorithmic systems, and user cultures distinctively influence political and cultural discussions. The study demonstrates how platform-specific features. Twitter's text-based immediacy and TikTok's audiovisual storytelling create different communicative environments that shape both content and participation patterns. Drawing on case studies from recent political events, cultural controvrsies, and social movements, this research identifies key mechanisms through which social media reconstructs public discourse: by fragmenting audiences into ideological communities, accelerating information cycles, democratizing participation while simultaneously amplifying certain voices, and blurring boundaries between entertainment and political communication. The findings suggest that while these platforms have expanded opportunities for diverse participation in public discourse, they have also created new challenges including misinformation proliferation, context collapse, and affective polarization. This research contributes to our understanding of how digital communication technologies fundamentally reshape democratic deliberation and cultural meaning-making processes, while highlighting the need for more nuanced platform-specific analysis in digital media research.