Don't forget to vote!
While 270 electoral votes is the target number to capture on election night, 140 has been key to capturing voters’ attention throughout this campaign season — 140 characters, that is. Despite the seemingly infinite amount of space on the Internet, posting in paragraphs has become passé. Enter microblogging site Twitter.com, a social network that has broken political news, served as a barometer of real-time reaction to the candidates, and even caused scandal for the camps throughout the 2008 election season, all within the confines of dispatches (called “tweets”) no longer than 140 characters long. Anyone from the techiest of nerds to your slightly computer-phobic mom can post tweets for everyone to see. >>Full Story
Thoughts// Ever the political junkie, I couldn’t resist putting up this story! While pundits and junkies everywhere appear to be obsessing with how the “swing states” or how a particular demographic will vote tomorrow, this MSNBC article highlights another unlikely “hero” of this year’s election – Twitter. The article provides a good reinforcement of all the reasons Troy and I love Twitter: good real time barometer of public opinion, easy to use interface, true one-to-one real-time conversation etc. Most importantly however, it’s yet another example of how digital technology is transforming the way we live, work and communicate with the world.
To follow the chatter about the 2008 elections, follow the conversations here. And what’s more….don’t forget to do your part and vote!
1 Comment
November 3, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Great article Mo, I love the part in the story about congress using Twitter:
Stone points out that Twitter users aren’t just voters; more than 40 members of Congress that he is aware of have profiles as well. “Having all these politicians and congressmen on Twitter means you can say to your constituents, ‘What do you think I should be doing right now?’ They can get instant feedback.”
Rep. John Culberson of Houston, for example, sends regular updates to his more than 3,600 followers through Twitter. “I will keep you posted on developments tomorrow in the House on the Paulson bailout bill,” he told them on Oct. 2, and lived up to his promise the next day in a series of tweets from the Capitol.
Democracy ‘operating at the pace of real-time’
This, Stone says, means “Democracy is now operating at the pace of real-time. It’s going to be important to have tools that allow you to make the right decisions, right now, rather than get left behind waiting.”
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Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace.com and others provide a “built-in community. There’s a rapid response, fact-check mechanism,” he said.
That is simply amazing. A great example for those of you thinking, how would and why we use Twitter?