Social Media + Politics = Cool

Due to a decline in interest and participation in politics and a lack of trust that the public have in politicians, one way for the government to recapture public interest is to use online communication. What is known as e-democracy has seen a use of blogs, microblogging, social networks, and photo- and video-sharing sites. This fits in with what people believe to be three periods of campaigning; a newspaper stage (pre-modern); a television stage (modern)l and a digital stage (post-modern). As can be seen with these three stages advancements in technology have decided how political campaigns run. It is thought that all poltical campaigns will eventually end up in the third stage,

American's have seen a rise in the use of the Internet when gathering political information. In 1996, only 3% of Americans stated that they used the Internet, yet in the 2008 Presidential elections America saw Barack Obama soar to the top, with this 40%  of American's used the Internet to gather information. Research has indicated that traditional media outlets, are also the dominant sites online. Traditional media sites are those that also come away from the Internet, and include NBC News, CNN and USA Today. However, during the 2008 election there was more of an interest in the non-traditional sites, with 78% of participants searching for campaign information on sites such as Weblog.

Even though there have been differences with where citzens are looking to find their information, there are underlying factors which exaplin why people are looking at either traditional or non-tradtional sites. These factors include age, education, and income, and the role that they play is still unclear. However, I believe that if political information was put across effectively using social media, then it needs to be on every available site whether it be traditional or non-traditional.

As effectively as social media worked for Obama, it can also work against politicians. As social media is so easy to use, people can take videos and edit them, then re-upload them onto the net. This can have very damaging affects on their campaigns, which was the case for John Edwards. One video is of Edwards helping with the clear up after Hurricane Katrina struck, which provides a positive image for him. On the other hand this next video does not...

For politicians to use social media without having negative impacts such as the case for John Edwards issues such as ownership, control and copyright need to be explored. Another downside of political campaigns moving onto the Net, means that we can see the digital divide much more clearly. Obviously, Internet access isn't available to everyone, so how will these people find out about what politicians are willing to offer? Does this mean that we will see another decrease in voting, as people who don't have the Internet may decide not to bother at all?

What about Australia?!

For the case of Australia, politicians prefer to use a personal website, this was for both 2007, and the 2010 campaigns. Where an astounding 76% of politicians having one.

But, how are they using social media?

Australian politicians used social media as a one-way form of communication, meaning they put out all the information about their campaign, but it didn't allow for the public to interact with them. The nature of what politicians are producing is mainly slogans, attacking opponents and political rhetoric. For Julia Gillard the majority of her tweets consist of her slogan ‘I’ll deliver a strong economy, better hospitals and schools.’ Seeing as there was an increase in the use of social media from the 2007 to the 2010 election, I expect that they will be another increase at our next election.


References:

Karlsen, R, 2010 'Does New Media Technology Drive Election Campaign Change', Information Polity, 15,3, pp.215-225, viewed 14 May 2012
<http://iospress.metapress.com/content/117550403871227t/>

McGinity,MS 2007 'Shaking Hands, Kissing Babies, and...Blogging?', Communications of the ACM, 50, 9, pp.21-24, viewed 14 May 2012
<http://www.ucalgary.ca/files/f2007stas341/p21-mcginity_shannon_0.pdf>

MacNamara, J & Kenning, G 2011, 'E-electioneering 2010: Trends in Social Media Use in Australian Political Communication', Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, 139, pp. 7-22, viewed 14 May 2012
<http://uts.academia.edu/JimMacnamara/Papers/858419/E-electioneering_2010_Trends_in_Social_Media_Use_in_Australian_Political_Communication>

Parmalee, JH, Davies, J, & McMahan, C 2011, 'The Rise of Non-Traditional Site Use for Political Information', Communication Quarterly, 59, 5, pp.625-640, viewed 14 May 2012
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01463373.2011.614211#preview>