With the explosion of facebook, twitter and other forms of social media over the last five years, a new political market has developed, and naturally, politicians have attempted to tap into it. A major reason for President Obama’s victory in 2008 was his effective use of the internet and social media. His campaign was able to break through to young voters on these social networking sites, giving them a way to connect with each other, and most importantly for the campaign, a way to donate and raise support. Other politicians learned from Obama and have attempted to utilize facebook and twitter in similar ways over the last couple years. However, as Julian Zelizer argues in an article for CNN, relying on social media for campaigning can prove ineffective over the long run. http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-05/opinion/zelizer.facebook.politics_1_tea-party-movement-political-parties-facebook/2?_s=PM:OPINION Sites like facebook and twitter lend themselves to short term success because they allow so many people to connect at one time, and when a candidate like Obama is able to generate as much excitement as he did, this excitement can be passed on through social media to people who may not care otherwise. It is very easy to post a status or send a tweet and people quickly jumped on Obama’s bandwagon in 2008 because it took almost no time or effort to get involved or at least offer the appearance of involvement.
While this helped Obama get elected, there is evidence that Obama has lost much of this movement to apathy since the excitement of the election. Zelizer argues that what he calls “facebook politics” can be fragile and ephemeral, and that it lacks the grassroots, local organization that has always been the backbone of of politics. He describes the civil rights movement, and the conservative movement in the 60s and 70s respectively, and how these movements spread through personal ties and face to face interaction. It is really these ties created through shared experience that make people willing to remain loyal to cause and continue to fight for it. People came together through social media in 2008 to support Obama, but where are they now? These individuals did not forge the local, personal ties with each other needed to maintain loyal and strong support for the Democratic and Obama movement. It was cool to support Obama in 2008 because he claimed to be something different and promised change to a country that craved it. However, Obama has had to deal with many political realities and rightly or wrongly has become just another politician in the eyes of the people. While it was easy to support Obama in 2008 through social media, it will be just as easy to not care about the 2012 election. The social media users Obama relied on in 2008 have no real investment in him or others who support him because the cost of their support in 2008 was just a few clicks of the mouse. Without the excitement of 2008, many people will likely return to the apathetic lives they enjoyed before. Obviously this is not to say that Obama did not engage in any local organization and that he has no base anymore, because clearly he did and does. However, I would argue that Obama has lost many people who voted for him in 2008 and that he will not be able to rely on social media in 2012.
The fleeting nature of “facebook politics” and the exaggeration of its powers are most striking in the Egyptian Revolution that occurred earlier this year. Many have argued that social media drove the revolution and was a major factor in its success. However, the true reason for the revolution was the rampant corruption and oppression carried out by the Mubarak regime. People were brought together by high living costs, high unemployment, corruption and police brutality. They were forced into a corner by the government inevitably leading to the creation of ties and bonds surrounding their horrible condition. It was these ties and connections that allowed the Egyptian people to stay loyal to the cause and stand strong in the face of repression and government attacks, not facebook or twitter posts about what was going on. The people believed they had no choice but to revolt or die in poverty.
While social media clearly has allowed people to become more connected and politically active if they desire to, its effects have been grossly exaggerated. Social media can not create the true local connections necessary to stand together and remain loyal to a cause. Facebook and twitter will be extremely valuable to politicians and causes for the foreseeable future, but traditional campaigning and local organizing should and will continue to be the backbone and driving force behind candidates and their campaigns.
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