Article first published as The Presidential Victor Will Be Tweeted on Technorati.
It’s not really “news” that Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and the like have been embraced by politicians, journalists, and political junkies alike. Last night’s GOP Presidential debate was live-tweeted, and discussed on just about every social media network in real-time. Bloggers on politics are rapidly increasing their influence to the point where it isn’t insane to consider the possibility of their eclipsing traditional journalists in the not-so-distant future.
Print and broadcast journalists aren’t the only sacred cows in danger of losing ground with the populace as a direct result of the rise of social media and blogging in politics. The days of old-style political consulting are facing extinction as well. Gone are the times when political advisers of all breeds can say without fear of failure “this is the way we do this because it’s the way it always worked.” Commentaries abound about the rise of the populist movement in right-wing politics – aka the Tea Party – but that is only half the story. Thanks to Ariana Huffington’s experiment in citizen journalism, there’s a left-wing version of that movement, and it’s alive and well on networks like Twitter. A simple search for the #p2 hashtag will yield thousands of comments from the movers and shakers of the left’s populist movement. Again, not really news, although perennially useful information for anyone wanting to keep tabs on politics on social networks.
What is news is what appears to be happening based on the buzz on Twitter during and after the first GOP Presidential Debate for the 2012 election. Before pollsters from any of the campaigns had a chance to do it, there was an immediate response from the people on the supposed winner – based on most indications, hands down it was Herman Cain, for anyone that wants to be in the know. Another interesting point was the observation that the Fox Luntz Focus Group was apparently paying attention to a particular blogger, Robert Stacy McCain.
Ding! Now that’s news! It isn’t verifiable, and could very well just have been a joke, but the reality is that there are growing signs that politicians aren’t just using social media to get their message out anymore. They have (finally?) discovered that the various networks are a rich resource of information on potential voters and supporters. It is an instant barometer in real-time indicating what the politically motivated public is thinking on just about anything a politician would want or need to know. Additionally, it is fertile ground where non-professional political pundits freely state their opinions on the issues and the candidates. Even better than all of that, it’s free! Well, not completely, since candidates would probably end up paying people on their staffs to read and analyze the information for them, but that’s still a great deal less expensive than traditional polling. The tide is turning, and now it is not unrealistic to suggest that the successful candidate in the 2012 Presidential Election will not only consult the pros, but also the social networks and the blogosphere. Forget about watching the network coverage on the upcoming election – the next President of the United States will be announced on Twitter!
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