The Internet overtakes politics as usual
Posted by Little Ms Purple at 4/1/2008 1:44 PM 
Categories: 2008 Election, Political strategies, All Posts
Categories: 2008 Election, Political strategies, All Posts
The Washington Post has a good article up today about how the Internet is affecting our political process. YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace, email lists, the blogosphere, message boards... any political aspirant who sticks their head in the sand when it comes to the Internet will lose.
One bad thing that I think the Internet has helped to spur along is the "sound bite" mentality that we now find ourselves in. As I've said before, politics is complicated and confusing and politicians/strategists like it that way; it gives them an opportunity to "spin" any situation to their benefit. The NEW problem for these politicians and strategists is that the Internet is a two way communication/conversation where the spin can easily be debunked with various YouTube clips, blog posts or by just searching LexisNexis. What the online political communities are good at is smelling BS from a mile away; calling out that BS and forcing the campaigns to react & respond TO the online reaction. That's power and that is what really scares my former colleagues in DC.
One bad thing that I think the Internet has helped to spur along is the "sound bite" mentality that we now find ourselves in. As I've said before, politics is complicated and confusing and politicians/strategists like it that way; it gives them an opportunity to "spin" any situation to their benefit. The NEW problem for these politicians and strategists is that the Internet is a two way communication/conversation where the spin can easily be debunked with various YouTube clips, blog posts or by just searching LexisNexis. What the online political communities are good at is smelling BS from a mile away; calling out that BS and forcing the campaigns to react & respond TO the online reaction. That's power and that is what really scares my former colleagues in DC.
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