U.S. President Barack Obama has been touted as "the social media president" and the history books will certainly mark the 2008 election as the first to be influenced by social media. Do you think that social media will continue to play an important role in the 2012 election, or is the phenomenon over-hyped?

As the 2012 election has come and gone, I hope it's alright if I write this blog post about if social media
will play an important role in future elections.



The presidential election is one of the most highly covered events in United States history, not just in 2012 but each year it is held.  Each election, politicians across the country are always looking for that edge, that one thing that will push them ahead of their counterparts. Over the last few elections, politicians have taken to social media to help give them that edge. President Obama has used social media to connect with the people of The United States of America. Whether it be posting pictures of himself shaking hands or taking photos with everyday people at a local pub, his campaign does all it can to paint him as an every day man, no matter his social status.

As successful as Obama has been with social media, some of his counterparts have not been so lucky. Some have good intentions at first, but become a public relations nightmare when they are caught in scandal. Let's take Anthony Weiner for example, in 2011 the politician accidentally posted publicly a link to a sexually suggestive photo of himself over Twitter to a woman who was following him. After originally denying the image was sent, he eventually confirmed in a press conference that it was indeed him in the photo.  Due to this unfortunate situation, Anthony Weiner was not only forced to resign from congress, but his marital status also took a big hit, understandably so.

This shows that social media can help but also destroy a campaign, and a politicians career. However, I feel as if social media will continue to be used for future campaigns, as politicians feel the rewards absolutely outweigh the risk. I believe that social media can be a blessing for politicians if they are willing to have a clean campaign and not put themselves in morally compromising situations. In this day and age, celebrity can be a dangerous thing; the more popular you become, the more people there are who try to leech on and bring you down. Do I think there will be a future president who wins an election without the aid of social media? Absolutely not.  I may be naive in saying that, but I just think we're coming into or have already entered an era where social media is thriving, and I just can't see it ending.

Some think the social media phenomenon is over hyped, and I politely disagree. It's not overhyped, it's been given the credit which it deserves. It's a great means of communication which helps in different fields, whether it be entertainment or politics, it's beneficial to everyone.

Social media has allowed everyday citizens to become authors, editors, and publishers of news and information. Do you believe that social media has increased the quality of news and information or decreased it?

    I feel sort of conflicted towards whether or not social media has decreased or increased the quality of news and information. On one hand, it has definitely decreased in grammar quality and in terms of detailed information given. However on the other hand, it has increased with the quality of photos and the types of news being shown or documented. The reason the grammar quality has decreased is because anyone can now post news and information as it happens. The problem with this being, there are many people in the world who lack proper grammar skills and the vocabulary to really bring news to life.

With regards to photo quality, it isn't so much the quality but the amount of photos being shown along with report of events as they happen. Take Twitter for instance, when a large media event such as the VMA's or an even larger event on a world scale happens, thousands upon thousands of photos are being tweeted within seconds of one another. Instead of having to wait for a newspaper the next day, these photos are coming in live and showing you what's happening. With this, I don't find you need a lot of context or perfect grammar because the photos do most of the talking.  However the purpose of this assignment is to choose a side, and even though it's by a small margin, I would say that social media has increased the quality of news. I feel as if there's just more of the information being provided, it's not condensed and it's beneficial to those who want updates as fast as possible. There are downsides of information coming in from too many sources at once, sometimes it goes through what I call the "telephone path". Basically one person will read information and misinterpret it, then the person will post it or talk about it while leading others to believe false information to be true.  However, through all of that I still believe that there is much more information being provided and it outweighs any of the negatives in my book.

What is your perception of social media, do you think it is a fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?

   In my personal opinion, social media is much more than a fad. Everything is run through social media nowadays and it shows no signs of slowing down. Think about how it has evolved over the course of just a few years, when Twitter first started out it was filled with meaningless tweets such as "eating a banana, live is good" or "it's sunny out today". If you look at Twitter now, it's filled with celebrities interacting with fans, breaking news is featured the second it happens through millions of Twitter accounts, more and more people are turning to Twitter as a replacement for their morning papers.

   Social media has become a prime place for advertisements and cash flow as well. Take Youtube for example, you won't find may videos without ad placements this is due to the Google Adsense program. All you need is a thousand or so views, and you can sign up with Google Adsense which in turn will place ads on your videos, now anyone can make money! Have you ever seen the videos of popular Youtube personalities such as the Shaytards, Sxephil, and Ray William Johnson?  They are raking in big money from their Youtube videos alone, not only that but it has also opened up many different job opportunities for them. If you pay close attention, they will even advertise various products that they use in their videos, don't let them fool you, they are usually paid to do this!

   Social media will never slow down, it will continue to evolve and eventually I believe it may just take over television as a preferred option for people to get their news, or watch their favourite shows. As long as celebrities keep using social networks such as Twitter, Vine, Instagram and Youtube to interact with fans, these sites will continue to grow. As much as I hate to use him as an example, take Justin Bieber. One retweet from him and a video will gain a 500,000 views, how is this possible you ask? Well just ask his millions of "beliebers" They are so loyal to the singer, that anything video link he retweets they will watch. This is all it takes for someone to become popular on Youtube or for a video to go viral, just one click of the button.

  So in conclusion, do I believe social media is a fad, or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?  Without a doubt I believe it's the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution, there is no question in my mind.