By Coree Foster | February 10, 2009
Politics and Social Media
Social media introduces a new paradigm of increased grassroots involvement in politics. Everyday people are finding their voice and influencing the conversation in Washington D.C.
Our country was founded on democracy – of the people, for the people – but in a society where money talks, few would say their opinion matters. Rather, a large majority view politics as reserved for the rich and powerful…I admit I once agreed with them, but times are changing and so is the voice of politics.
Those conversations that were once reserved for the country club elite are being overrun by the public at large on social networking and viral media platforms. Politics is still about that conversation – the difference is in how many more people can participate and how quickly one person becomes tens of thousands – at no other time have modern Americans been so connected and so easily organized.
In any successful democratic society, civic participation is a necessity – everyone needs to do their part. With the emergence of social platforms like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, eventful, and Meetup, democratic engagement is becoming increasingly achievable.
Social Media Spaces
Through these social networking spaces people have the opportunity to shape the conversation and decide on what issues politicians need to place their focus – a sharp break from traditional top-down politics, where the politician talks and people listen. For example, organizations like MoveOn.org have embraced this bottom-up concept, allowing members to set the organization’s priorities, and in-turn bringing every-day people back into politics.
Social media is breaking down a system that today revolves around big money and big media (which leaves most citizens out all together). It creates a system of bottom-up democracy where people are actively participating in our nation’s politics.
The question now is, “will politicians keep up?” The 2008 presidential campaign proves those who take note of the trend win. Barack Obama and his team utilized social media at an unprecedented level where other candidates barely scratched the surface. However, even Obama’s camp, which was touted as having “crushed” social media sites, doesn’t have a full grasp of what social media can do and is doing to change politics:
Andrew Rasiej, founder and publisher of Personal Democracy Forum and TechPresident.com, said “Barack Obama’s campaign is also backwards thinking. The webmaster running the Obama MySpace site—with 160,000 supporters—asked Obama for a salary, $39,000 and was refused. That’s 25 cents a voter and they said no. Keep in mind, campaigns often spend one dollar per email address for mailing lists.”
Most politicians are behind the eight ball. The good news is that it’s not too late to tap into this new media resource. People are looking for government transparency and social media platforms (like tweetcongress) offer them the public forum they need to solicit the attention of their elected officials. Politicians and would be candidates who choose to “listen” to and participate in these conversations online can find supporters and quickly mobilize them to advance their political or social agenda.
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About the authorCoree is a political junkie who firmly believes social media is no longer just a "trend".
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