Cameron Franey

Research Paper #1

My professional area of interest is the role social media plays in governance. Social media has changed politics in an extremely drastic way. Secrets are harder to keep, elected officials are easier to contact than ever before, and campaigns are run completely different than they were before the Internet age. The tools of the trade are changing so much and those using them are struggling to keep up. Currently, the blogosphere is buzzing around a new Pew Research report discussing social networking sites and the role they play in politics. The report attempts to figure out if people live in what they call social network echo chambers (Rainie, and Smith). This concept describes an individual that surrounds themselves with people and media that is congruent to their ideologies. For example, an echo chamber for a conservative individual might involve following the Republican National Committee on Twitter, having majorly only conservative friends on Facebook, and getting most of their news from conservative leaning blogs. The importance of this research is to determine how partisan voters are becoming. The more isolated people are in their social media echo chamber the more likely they are to become belligerently partisan and cross-party politics becomes even harder than it currently is. With such wide access to everything its easy for the common user to grow their chamber larger and larger until no one is ever challenged by the other side and everyone is bunkered down into their own beliefs. Before the Internet age there were only a certain number of newspapers or news stations one could get their information from, so it was important for news organizations to be bipartisan to some extent so they could sell more newspapers or

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Research Paper #1

advertising space. Now that space on the Internet is all but free, its easier to avoid the other side of the aisle entirely. The study found that 49% of Democrats, 39% of moderates, and 32% of Republicans have discovered their friends political ideology and been surprised by what they found from social media (Rainie, and Smith). These findings suggest that we dont surround ourselves entirely with people of our ideological backgrounds. Between half and one third of people dont even know the political beliefs of those theyre friends with. The study also found that while only 18% of people have taken negative action, blocked, unfriended, or hidden, against someone with incongruous political posts to their own beliefs, only 16% of users have friended someone because of their political beliefs and postings. These numbers indicate that social media users dont often take actions for or against political posts, which means we dont surround ourselves in our echo chambers as much as common knowledge suggests. While Pew may have found that social media users may not use social media to interact with friends about politics, there is one social media platform that is used by politicians very heavily. YouTube is a tool that candidates have embraced very strongly, posting political ads on there to bypass the costly television media and get the ad directly to the voter as quickly as possible. One of the better examples of social media users debating over political ads on YouTube is Rick Perrys Strong campaign. Rick Perry, former republican presidential hopeful, posted a video on YouTube that split viewers very heavily. It was so controversial that even some bloggers that one would think would agree with the video were angered by the

Cameron Franey

Research Paper #1

content (Anderson). While only 30 seconds long, Perrys religious speech has garnered him over 700,000 dislikes and so many negative comments that the comments section had to be removed. YouTube was also a strong platform for President Obama during his 2008 campaign. By getting on YouTube, Obama grabbed the young vote before McCain could. This vote helped him ultimately win the election. To put things into perspective about how important social media is to politics today, one blog, 140 Proof, posted an infographic entitled How Social Will Win the Election Ad Wars. All Facebook, which dissected the graphic, argues that targeting is the most important part of political advertising on social media. The blog says 100 million potential voters are using social network this year (Moire). This means that social media is a potential gold mine of advertising. According to 140 Proof, in 2008, Barack Obama spent $500,000 in social media advertising, while the unsuccessful John McCain spent nothing, with the total being spent over all campaigns being $9.5 million. In 2012, there will be an estimated $142 million spent on social media advertising. Politicians recognize the importance of social media and are scrambling to outdo the others. For politicians, social media is uncharted territory and right now anything goes. One of the biggest draws of social media advertising is the ability for it to snowball. A political ad on TV can only be viewed, while a post on Facebook can be liked and reposted, a tweet can be replied to or retweeted, and a YouTube video can be shared and emailed. This can snowball the message into something much bigger than it ever would have been if it were just a TV or radio spot.

Cameron Franey

Research Paper #1

Another important aspect of social media that 140 Proof points out is the ability for social media to follow voters into the booth. Because of politicking laws, campaigning near a building where people vote is illegal. However, voters will bring their phones into the booth with them, which means they can still access information that would have otherwise been kept from them. This helps campaigners zero in on swing voters and might lead to flipping votes that they might not have gotten. The last big leg of social media that bloggers are discussing with politics is Twitter. Twitter is something that politicians havent quite figured out the full potential of yet. While President Obama has tried a Twitter Townhall to engage the social media world, some bloggers complain that it isnt quite what they wanted when they heard Twitter Townhall (Rosenblatt). While Obama fielded answers from Twitter, he responded via online video. This is a good integration of multiple channels of connectivity, but it wasnt truly a Twitter townhall since he wasnt giving his answers via Twitter. Bloggers also discuss the fact that with instant access quality of social media, especially Twitter, there is much greater political accountability now than ever (Pearson). When a vote is made and the news is released, the Twitterverse can jump on the decision immediately. The world is now a 24-hour news cycle. So Washington news no longer runs from daylight until Congress leaves the building. Everything happening in DC is discussed throughout the entire day. This means constituents are constantly second-guessing what their representatives in Washington are doing. This means the politicians must be extremely aware of their constituents desires

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Research Paper #1

before they make a vote, because the political backlash could be not only immediate but also amplified due to the snowball effect that was discussed earlier. On the other side of that coin though, it is easier now for politicians to get feedback from their constituents. Representatives no longer have to rely on phone surveys and mail to hear what their constituents have to way. They can now look at Twitter traffic and Facebook comments to determine where their constituents sit on issues in order to hopefully make decisions that are better suited to their voting base. My focus is different because I plan to treat social media as a net positive for politicians. Most bloggers talk about all the trouble social media can cause politicians, from uncovered scandals to backlash from publics about certain issues. I plan to treat social media as a good thing for politicians. Yes, they can get in trouble because of social media, but the benefits that arise from using social media far outweigh the negatives. Constituents can stay in touch with their representatives much better than before, as stated earlier, campaign costs could decrease greatly since content can be made and distributed at a cheaper rate with social media, and politicians will be forced to more responsive to their constituents because of the connectivity now. American governance has the chance to really evolve and become something positive after lagging behind in public opinion for such a long time. Readers should read my work because I look at politics from a very unique point of view. Not only have I worked in Washington politics, but Ive also got a fresh take on things. Im very optimistic about politics in America. I think we as voters and leaders have the ability to turn around a system that stopped working a long time

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ago. I also come from a communication background so I understand politics from a different angle than most. I dont just see the issues and winning and losing, but I also see the ability to form long-lasting relationships between voters and leaders that can benefit the population as a whole due to healthy communication.

Cameron Franey Bibliography

Research Paper #1

Anderson, John. My response to Rick Perrys Strong Ad. Political Corrections. N.p., 10 12 2011, Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://politicalcorrections.com/?p=5. Fitzpatrick, Alex. Do you agree with your Facebook friends politics? Not likely. Mashable Social Media. N.p., 12 03 2012, Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://mashable.com/2012/03/12/social-media-friends-politics/. Moire, Jennifer. INFOGRAPHIC: Facebooks $142 Million Political Ad Market, According to 140 Proof. All Facebook. N.p., 15 03 2012, Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-ads-politics-infographic-2012-03. Pearson, Glen. Social media demands instant political accountability. LF Press. N.P., 19 03 2012. Web. 18 mar. 2012. http://www.lfpress.com/comment/2012/03/16/19513161.html. Rainie, Lee, and Aaron Smith. Social networking sites and politics. Pew Internet Project. (2012): n. page. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_SNS_and_ politics.pdf. Rosenblatt, Alan. Twitter Townhalls. Digital Politics. Big Think, 29 11 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://bigthink.com/digital-politics/twitter-townhalls. How Social Will Win the Election Ad Wars. 140 Proof. N.p., 15 03 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://blog.140proof.com/post19348267894/how-social-willwin-the-election-ad-wars.