1.) They were formed mainly to group like-ideas together for those who shared the same opinions. They seeked to influence elections, government officials, and public policy choices. Interest groups are able to control public policy by advocating what they have in mind.
2.) The media can influence the decisions of citizens and government officials by advertising subliminal messages, showing why one should support whatever they are seeking.
3.) Media influences people's views on political ideas and events by putting thoughts into their heads. The whole idea is to make one believe what they're saying is right. The media has changed overtime by being able to demonstrate the good in events. If someone is running for the politic, they can easily show you the good they have done.
4.) They could influence the public policy by making their own groups or have speeches in certain locations.
5.) A social issue that I know of in todays society is violence in schools. Some changes that I would like to start seeing are more after school activities that can help the kids come together. In order to bring about the change, I would do my best to come up with different clubs and throughout the school day, promote those groups and see if kids are interested. I would talk with the principal to see if I could make flyers, an even try to announce them over the intercom during school hours.
6.) If you participate in your community, you can make friends and have the opportunity to help others. Voting is important because it's not only part of the Democratic process, we contribute to the numbers in polls as well. Since everything is determined by numbers.