Social media used by politicians

I recently read an article on businessinsider.com that focused on American politicians using social media websites to aid their campaigns.

The article mentioned that previous methods of advertising political campaigns are now obsolete and social media has become more dominant. So in a sense, has social media become a tool to boost an image instead of a means to socialise online?

So far most of the candidates have begun to use social media for their campaigns. Especially, president Obama who has “unofficially kicked off his presidential campaign by taking part in a webcast with none other than Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg” (businessinsider.com, 2011) and by creating a YouTube campaign. It is very obvious that Obama is using social media to his advantage.

However, it seems social media has its advantages for politicians but it does have one severe disadvantage for them: the ability to destroy their political careers.

Referring back to the article, it gave a brief account of a politician, George Allen, a former republican senator, after making a racial comment was recorded via camera and put onto the internet and thus, resulted in his career being ruined. This made me laugh, as politicians consider social media as an asset to boost their image and in fact that one wrong move is then posted on the internet and its bye bye career. But that’s politics for you.

If social media is beneficial and yet dangerous for politicians, maybe they should have a look at the “5 Tips for Politicians Using Social Media” (Socialtimes.com, 2010).

To read the full articles from businessinsider.com and socialtimes.com, please follow the links:

http://www.businessinsider.com/attention-politicians-keep-your-eyes-on-social-media-2011-10

http://socialtimes.com/politicians-social-media_b19387

References

Attention Politicians: 'Keep your Eyes on Social Media'. 2011. Attention Politicians: 'Keep your Eyes on Social Media'. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.businessinsider.com/attention-politicians-keep-your-eyes-on-social-media-2011-10. [Accessed 13 November 2011].

5 Tips for Politicians Using Social Media - SocialTimes.com. 2011. 5 Tips for Politicians Using Social Media - SocialTimes.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://socialtimes.com/politicians-social-media_b19387. [Accessed 13 November 2011].