PAF 494 Blog # 6 Mud Wrestling on the Social Media Landscape Under the Internet Sun

Before there was technology old as the telephone and new as the Internet the four elements of earth, wind, fire, and water existed. The center of our solar system has always been the sun, but as we step into new technologies there is a system of media such as news print technology, telegraph/telephone technology, film, photo, and audio recorded technology, and radio and television broadcast technology that revolves around a sun or center of the technology known as the Internet. Being twenty-one or in other words, existing in the twenty first century means that many will indulge in the intoxicating offerings of new millennium technology. Twenty-one has become more than the legal drinking age or a winning hand on a black jack table; it has become the century where technology has grown up into a force to be reckoned with.

The power of money bows to the power of social media where the statements of stands on political issues, political advertising campaigns, and the ability to reach a targeted audience is accomplished with less money and less effort in the history of campaigning. Social media participants have the ability to share their thoughts, views, and news, and this can mean that individuals can gain support for candidates on an exponential level. It is like multi-level marketing for politicians as potent as an atom bomb. Two becomes four, four becomes eight, eight becomes sixteen, and so on and so on and so on. Before you know it millions are involved. It is just like the phenomenon that if you double a penny every day for thirty days you'll have over a million dollars. Social media is like a bank that offers its investors compound interest. The results are wealthy and mind boggling. Social media participants share information faster than a virus can be spread causing people to come down with the same views and beliefs they are infected by. People love to share and social media allows this. Constituents that use social media like things and connect to others that like what they like and connect to others on the same wavelength. Social media has even become a top platform for campaign donations.  All types of people are putting their votes and their money where their computer is. 

New media is definitely innovating campaigns while it is also providing a new terrain for mud fights. I'm not talking about two women in bathing suits going at it in the mud; I'm talking about political competitors using the Internet to sling mud in a technological way. I don't think the pioneers of cutting-edge technology ever meant for it to be used in this way. Anonymous Twitter accounts, erroneous information broadcast to tens of thousands if not more in a matter of seconds or minutes, and digital character defamation carried on the waves of the web that cause candidates to drown are becoming and will become more commonplace. I remember the Steven Seagal movie Above the Law, and I feel that since there are not laws nor guidelines to govern social media many politically incorrect people that would otherwise be deemed as gangsters are going to get away with premeditated political murder. There is mud on the social media landscape and some politicians are getting stuck in it. Anyone running or planning to run for office these days better put on their fatigues because there is a war where the Internet is the main weapon of choice the enemy will use. 

Obama made history by facilitating "his story" through social media as he leveraged it to his advantage. This was a move wiser that than the spun web of a spider to catch its prey. From this day forward I believe that politicians must say, "I do" to social media for better or for worse. Social media is not just a fad and it isn't going away. If anything, something greater is coming that will be built on its foundation. It is time to tweet, facebook, Youtube, and do every other possible thing that is here now and coming to extend the voice of your view. It is really too bad about the deceit that exists alongside or because of pure genius, but such is life. 

In the upcoming 2012 election social media is going to be the technological "fly on the wall." More than that it is going to be a community of butterflies not afraid to spread their wings of opinion after going through a technological metamorphosis. We've been saying for years that a change would come, well now it has. Social media is informing people, but it is also forming people's opinions.  In an age where we can get "at the moment" information and "after the fact" news is being buried among the graves of outdated information technology resources. More people than ever before are looking to social media for current and true news, and what they read and share with others will influence them and work to shape public policy based upon what they believe from what they see, read, and receive. 

All great leaders were once great followers. I must admit that I've never really been a huge fan of twitter, but I understand and honor its power and presence. As I tweet I also invite people to fly with me in the skies above and inline with the information superhighway. A few political and news-worthy tweeters that I follow are: Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper tweets all the up-to-date news no matter what it is. If it is news Anderson is singing it like a bird whether it is political or not. I like his tweets and I think he keeps the audience of the world current on everything that is happening. The Barack Obama twitter site that I'm following is run by his 2012 campaign staff. The most recent three tweets of this site offer an opportunity to win a chance to chat with the President, asks millionaires and billionaires to pay their fare share according to the "Buffet Rule," and inquires as to what people would ask the President if they were able to sit down at dinner with him. These tweets appeal to the social, political, and real motivations of the American people in an effort to connect with, maintain the support of, and gain new voters. As far as Hilary Clinton, I think I am connected with the wrong twitter page. I went to look at the page for her I'm following and there was only one tweet. I know Hilary has a lot more to say than that. She is the female voice of America and if I could make my best guess my intuition tells me that Hilary is up to speed on all issues that affect this nation individually and collectively. Hilary has to be a hummingbird of twitter; compact, cute, and powerful. Her wings flutter fast carrying her from place to place while she drinks the nectar of political news and issues. While I am in search for a more valid twitter site for her I don't have to find it to know that she is courageous, well-spoken, and still believing in the concept that it takes a village to raise a child. 

Deneene Says...

1. Social media may be enhanced but it is not going away.
2. Social media and politics will hold hands like high school sweethearts.
3. Social media is the new mud in the hands of technology-wise politicians.
4. Social media provides the content, collaboration, community, and collective intelligence that will forever change politics.
5. Social media is as influential as a dollar bill is to a homeless person. 
6. Social media is instant and informative.
7. Social media is a force to be reckoned with which truths and falsities must be deeply considered.

Thanks for lending me your eyes and ears. I hope to communicate with you again soon regarding the profound topics of our present time.