When Social Media and Politics Wed, Both Change

Post-election, there are lots of articles about how social media changed political campaigning, so it's refreshing when someone points out that politics has changed social media, too. That's the take of Mark Blackham in socialmediatoday.com. When the campaigns started using social media to raise money, it pushed the maturation of the channel into "a legitimate way to connect with the public for money and activity, not just a place where cheering came from," remarks Blackham. Meanwhile, when mainstream media began to include social media reactions, they legitimized social channels as forums of public opinion -- although the focus on lighthearted or off-kilter commentary, sort of a "wittier multi-media version of talk radio," risks undermining a serious role in the future, Blackham says. Finally, political and media participation expanded social media into places of wider, more organized political engagement, a chance to unify around shared ideologies and political parties instead of the "free-for-all and disruptive" political expression of the past. For more of Blackham's remarks, see http://socialmediatoday.com/markblackham/984221/three-ways-us-election-changed-social-media