Social Media: The Liberalization of Society

This final post focuses on the impact of new communication technologies on cultures. It's no secret the world has become one big village. Anyone can have a live face to face conversation with anyone via skype or any other video conference provider (and there's plenty). Cultural globization is the rapid tranverse of ideas, attitudes and values across national borders. This sharing of ideas generally leads to an interconnectedness and interaction between peoples of diverse cultures and way of life (wisegeeks). So, what does this have to do with politics? In general, populace in developing countries have started demanding their politicians, and government redress many of the social issues plaguing them. They may have gotten the idea for a better standard of living from watching television, internet, and probably social media interactions. The governent of Iran experienced quite an ordeal in their attempt to stiffle dissent, and opposition after the controversial presidential election in 2009. Though the government patrolled the airwaves and the internet with an iron fist, yet the real stories and footage of what was happening inside Iran appeared on YouTube, and Facebook daily. In Communist China workers are currently battling the government for a set minimum wage. Social medias has helped growing social trends such as political activistism, humanitarianism, and environmental conscientious that transcend borders. This begs the question; does social media accelerate the liberalization of society, if so how do politicians react?

Communication Technology Today

Without a doubt new communication technologies has transform the way we communicate with each other. But I want to highlight something else, the way it has transform the way retailers and big business communicate with us. You can order a pizza online for god sake. Businesses of all creeds have blogs and twitter followers, for example, the makers of Pampers have a blog that talks about what else, pampers. Enterprises small and large alike are using social media to monitor conversations about themselves, monitor their own industry, provide emergency updates, gain customer feedback, drive traffic to the company's web site, recruiting the best talent, attracting new customers, and inciting interest for the company's brand. So just how important is it for businesses to get into the social media trend? Statistic shows "25% of search results for the world's top 20 brands are links to user-generated content", further "34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands." Clearly, there's a correlation between the two. The question is how to utilize social media to get the best bang for your buck (for lack of a better term..they all free for the most part). There's thousands of web site online that answer that question.

Cost, impact, and public acceptance

From the outside looking in it seems Facebook is the most cost effective, has the most impact, and public confidence. That's not intirely true. Yes, while I agree Facebook is bringing in the money by the truck load for politicians, I don't necessarily believe it has the "most impact", or voter's confidence; even though grandma's now on Facebook. I believe that honor belongs to YouTube. In May of this year YouTube announced its daily view exceeds two billion. Yes, that's B-for two Billions views every day. Politically, any gaffe by a cadidate can go viral within minutes and promptly put an end to any promising campaign; it's call "gotcha moments". These moments are almost exclusive to national politics (for obvious reasons, who cares what a small town mayor thinks right?). This is an excerpt from 2006 CNN article:Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen's controversial remark to a young campaign aide working for Allen's opponent, Democrat Jim Webb. The comment was caught on camera by the Webb aide, and was put on YouTube. It became a smash hit. Allen was expected to cruise to re-election, but thanks in part to the YouTube video, Allen lost his seat by just a few thousand votes to Webb. His loss, along with the razor thin defeat of Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Montana -- who had his own damaging moments on YouTube -- helped swing control of the Senate to the Democrats. From this one can conclude two things: 1) Youtube has a greater mpact in generating opionions and swaying voters. People that follows politicians on Facebook already like those politicians and are likely to vote for them (of course, if they are a constituent, often they're not). 2) There's proof of YouTube impact on elections while it's quite difficult to measure Facebook's impact, if at all possible. The fact both parties had televised YouTube debates is proof Americans have accepted YouTube as a new media outlet in the political enviroment. I think what remains to be seen is whether people will use Youtube to soil the political landscape with tic-for-tac damaging videos.

Best new media

My last post focused heavily on YouTube so what I'm going say next may come as a surprise to some: Facebook was the most effective new communication tool during the 2008 elections. Though YouTube can be a tool for sensational journalism it doesn't bring home the bacon for the candidates like Facebook. Sara Calderon, a beat writer for insidefacebook.com noted “Although social media alone doesn’t win elections, platforms like Facebook have increasingly become an integral part of getting out the word about candidates around the world, and while Facebook fans may not translate directly to votes, there does seem to be at least some correlation." This was exemplified in the election of Scott Brown of Massachusetts who managed to win Ted Kennedy seat after his untimely. Kennedy was a notorious liberal, and the political pendulum leans to the left in Massachusetts. The Tea Party used Facebook to rally support for Mr. Brown, donations were flowing in from all over the country. Brown had more followers on Twitter by almost three to one, and five times the number of Facebook fans. Calderon went so far as crediting Facebook for helping Barack win the 2008 presidential election as she state “Barack Obama’s election marked a turning point in electoral politics as the previously unseen use of social media such as Facebook was utilized not only to raise funds, but to organize and implement a campaign strategy that translated into a movement in the offline world, and most importantly, votes.” I wouldn’t go that far. I think the perceive moment (if there was one) had a lot more to do with his rhetoric than Facebook. The percentage of eligible 18-24 olds exercising their right to vote grew just one percent between 2004 and 2008. It’s all about the money, and Facebook right now is king when it comes to digging in the pockets of the American people (unless you're one of the 535 members of congress).

I came upon a very interesting article by the Washingtonian, in which they proclaimed, in essence, the era of big party establishment tight control of elections are over. The article stated that four tools "online video, cell phone, blog, and social networking sites provide unparalleled power to ordinary voters." A new infrastructure has been created, as witness by the 2008 presidential election, for "launching and rebutting political attacks." I agree with alot of their setiments, but I don't believe 'big political establishments' have loosen their grip whatsoever. If anything I think the margin for error for candidates are alot less. Any gaffe can see a leading candidate go from leading in the polls to being lost in the wilderness. This is a new fact of life in a 24 hour news cycle.The article used for example a couple of blunders by two senate incumbents during the 2006 election cycle that went viral on youtube that may have cost them their bid for re-election. I think it remains to be seen if local officials are under the same microscope of scrutiny. Canidates have also learned adapt to their new enviroment. Both Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama first announced their candidacy over the internet. Millions of dollars were raised online during the 2008 elections, and both parties even held a youtube debate. We are now in the era of the endless election cycles. With the political enviroment so toxic I wonder if America is ready.