Blog Posting #3: Social media & the 2012 election

U.S. President Barack Obama has been touted as "the social media president" and the history books will certainly mark the 2008 election as the first to be influenced by social media. Do you think that social media will continue to play an important role in the 2012 election, or is the phenomenon over-hyped?

  

Obama's participation in social media

Social media is a growing phenomenon, increasing in popularity at an extraordinary speed. Unlike in any other Presidential election, the Obama campaign harnessed a range of social media tools to help connect with the voters and encourage support. On his website they posted videos, photos, and speeches. After the election the Obama team continued to use social media, within 24 hours of the successful vote, Obama's transition team rolled out the http://change.gov/website which was designed to continue the conversation that began during the campaign. The site gave people an opportunity to share their thoughts on important issues and respond to policy ideas. This made people feel they were being heard and that Obama was listening, it is extremely important to people that their opinion matters and will be listened to. Social media breaks down communication barriers and lets all people interact and communicate with one another which was important in the 2008 election as Obama used social media to better communicate with and better reach the voters. Also because technology is always advancing and social media is growing, using it in his campaign showed the voters that he adapts to the changing technology and will harness and use it to his advantage to communicate with the voters. A recent study from branding agency Digitas found that 88% of U.S. adults on social media are registered voters, and that over half will use social media to learn about the presidential election. This is a huge development and will most likely to increase due to students coming of voting age and growing up in the ‘social media world’ and growing use of technology in everyday life. In spite of its massive and unprecedented growth, political strategists are still in the early stages of figuring out what social media can and can't do. The trend is clear, however: digital will be an ever more important factor as each new election cycle rolls around. Social media offers an opportunity for government to speak directly to their constituents and has helped to spark the new Government 2.0 model which focuses on transparency, collaboration, innovation, and participation. Social media will continue to play an important role in the 2012 election and it will continue to grow and develop for future elections as well.

   ~Chantel~