Tuesday night’s debates brought out the “best” in social media. Governor Romney chose to use the phrase “Binders full of women” and immediately Twitter, Facebook, and every other media source blew up with comments and criticisms.
Unfortunately, social media tends to have a more negative effect during the political season than positive. If either candidate says or does something less than perfect it is immediately blown out of proportion.
The question becomes, do these comments and media blow-ups have an effect on the election and the democratic process itself?
The election of 2008 focused on getting the younger generations vote and getting them to become more involved in the process. The campaign was a success, however, with a younger voting class comes a potential for less informed voting and more along the lines of a passionate impulse vote. When snafus such as Romney’s latest come about, many blogs, posts, and tweets are seen world wide and they can stick in the mind more so than when “new media” wasn’t around. Some voters may not be as informed and seeing these comments etc. could swing a vote either way if they don’t look into it more closely. Essentially, it comes down to people being smart in their voting and realizing what it is they are reading and how truthful it is. Being a smart voter includes looking at both ends of the spectrum and ignoring the gunk that flies in between in the process.
The instance of the “binders” isn’t necessarily as serious as other things that have come about, but they still have an impact on people’s opinions of these candidates. Social Media, especially new media, has the potential to make or break a candidate.
VOTE wisely and may the best “meme” win.
