Social Media: Changing the Legislative Communications Paradigm
New guest article by Beth Becker, the first in a series! Follow Beth on Twitter and at one of her latest projects, ProgressiveCongressNews. And, check out her previous review of Visible Vote.
Social Media: Changing the Legislative Communications Paradigm
By Beth Becker
As recently as twenty years ago, communication experts talked about political communication using two key buzzwords: “rhetoric” and “gatekeepers.” In those days, political communication was about getting the gatekeepers, primarily the mainstream media (remember that this was before the heyday of cable TV), to regurgitate their rhetoric to their constituents in the hope that they would remember it on election day.
Today, social media has blown the paradigm to bits. Today, we don’t have rhetoric so much as we have targeted messaging and messaging strategy. Today, the mainstream media would like to believe they are still the gatekeepers, but more and more people are discovering that THEY have the power to be gatekeepers of their own.
What does this mean for legislators?
4 comments June 6th, 2011 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us
