I never thought I'd live to see the day that we'd be using the terms 'traditional media' vs. 'non traditional media'. That we'd be blogging our opinions about a candidate or sending tweets (wasn't that a sound birds made?)in real time (did we have 'false time'?)about political campaigns, from the White House, 24 Sussex, G20 summits, the Olympics --- well you get the idea.
So much has been said about how Barack Obama took advantage of 21st century technology to win the White House. Then-Senator Obama realised the power of social networking and had no qualms about harnessing its massive reach to make history.
Do we even remember how simple it was to watch the news on television? We turned on either of the three major networks --- ABC, NBC, CBS --- and watched the news. That was all there is to it. Now you hear Larry King say 'follow me on Twitter'or if you missed your favourite newscast, one can always log on to a network's web page and read/listened/watch it all there. Their online editions have sound and video for your newswatching pleasure. So do print organisations --- my favourite online news sites of what used to be the print media have video and audio links.
The world has become a global village. Thank you, Mr. Mcluhan. I still remember the morning I watched the attacks on the World Trade Center --- we refer to that tragedy as '9/11' a brief time capsule of a catastrophic event. I was watching the 'Today' show when the screen suddenly changed to the first Tower with smoke coming out of it and then the second plane plowed into the second Tower. All in real time! 'live' as they say in broadcast parlance. All major networks had wall-to-wall coverage. It affected me so much that I couldn't sleep for a month!
Remember how dailies used to print 'extra' editions when there was breaking news of great importance? And newsboys would hawk these editions like town criers "EXTRA! EXTRA! read all about it!" It's heartening to note that in this day and age of the internet Washington dailies printed extra copies of the news of President Obama's inauguration. People wanted hard copy keepsakes instead of just reading about this historic event online or buying the video later.
So whether a politician is running for local or national office his or her campaign will inevitably have a social media component. They cannot afford not to. Voters can access information literally at their fingertips and even exchange tweets with a candidate or be a Facebook follower.
The upside? It's everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-a-candidate-but-were-no-longer-afraid-to ask.
The downside? The hackers who hack into a politician's account and throw everything haywire or assume an identity to get information.
As for me, I'm glad we're no longer writing on cave walls or sending messages via carrier pigeons.
Three cheers for Social Media!
Nicely written.
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