Tikok Mayor Matthias Beer: How Social Media changes politics!

Tikok Mayor Matthias Beer: How Social Media changes politics!

Beratzhausen, Bayern, Deutschland - In the current podcast "Official secrets on site" by the municipal association President Johannes Pressl, the mayor of Beratzhausen, Bavaria, Matthias Beer, is presented as a so-called "Tikok mayor". Beer, who has been in office since 2020, has made a name for himself by using the Tikok platform to present his municipal tasks in a new and entertaining way. The title "Tikok mayor" was awarded to him by the Bild-Zeitung and originally emerged from a "stupid". Today Beer has 16,909 Follower on TikTok and uses the videos to transmit both humorous and serious messages through the mayor's office.

His contributions present insights into the preparations for sessions, visits to construction sites and meetings with other politicians. Beer pursues the goal of positively changing the mayor's image in public and bringing local politics closer to a younger audience. He thinks that social media is an important communication platform for mayor, even if he does not advertise in his videos for his election campaign goals.

Advantages and risks of TikTok in politics

Despite the positive aspects, Matthias Beer also sees critical points in relation to TikTok. He expresses concerns about the content generated by the platform, thank God not least because of the spread of violent videos and misinformation. While populist parties such as the AfD are increasingly dominating the platform and achieving a reach that far exceeds all democratic parties, it is all the more important for political actors to actively counter these trends and to inspire young voters for democratic issues. According to an analysis of the platform, around 41% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 have subscribed to Tiktok, which corresponds to around 20.9 million users in Germany.

The political social media consultancy Mecoa warns of the possible effects of the Tikok presence on future elections. Political actors risk a lot if they stay away from the platform and are not prepared for the misinformation of the extreme rights. Because Tikkok has developed from a pure entertainment platform to a central location of political opinion formation.

communication and authenticity

Matthias Beer knows about the challenges of social media. He emphasizes that Tiktok is not used for his personal election campaign, but still represents a valuable platform to understand the work of local administrations. Authenticity is the keyword. He separates the content on its social media: While Facebook and Instagram are used for information transfer, Tiktok is intended for a relaxed, entertaining address. This enables him to bring politics closer to people and to give insights into the life of a politician.

In the podcast episode with Pressl, it becomes clear that the exchange about topics such as social media and politics is essential for mayors today. The consequences are available on common platforms and help to sensitize mayors to the challenges of modern communication.