Posts tagged as:

politics

Politicians and Twitter

by Stephanie Schlegel on November 8, 2009

Regardless of your stance on the healthcare debate, on Saturday the 7th history was made. Like so many others out there, I learned about this via Twitter. It was utilized successfully to help President Obama connect during his campaign and he has continued to use Twitter to communicate with his followers (all 2,620,260). This is the tweet shared after the vote:
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Not too long ago, our access to politicians was limited to their “State of the (city, state, country) Addresses” and information shared through the press secretary. We now have unprecedented access thanks to social media. Some politicians are quick to jump into Twitter because they believe it will help them win elections. Others are true believers in the tool and how it allows them to connect with the supporters and non-supporters alike.

I am a big fan of lists so I’ve pulled together my list of the most interesting politicians to follow on Twitter. By interesting, I don’t mean that they have a similar viewpoint to mine, which means there are representatives from both parties and can lead to some entertaining updates. The list is in alphabetical order, enjoy!

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Twitter, the U.S. Government, and Iran

by Kristen Nicole on June 16, 2009

Twitter has become central to the political crisis in Iran, where members of the media have been kicked out, web services have been shut down and the simplest and most effective way for protesters to get their message out is through Twitter.

After the Iranian election pitted former Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against the reformist and reported crowd favorite Mir favorite Hossein Mousavi, bringing out several new voters that otherwise wouldn’t have participated in the election. When the election results came back with a surprising 65% victory for Ahmadinejad, the demonstrations and the protesting began.

The message quickly began to spread to the web, leveraging social networks like Facebook, media-sharing sites like YouTube and microblogging platforms like Twitter, blasting the political situation in Iran all over the world. But it’s the simplicity and widespread access of Twitter that has made it among the most effective of all the social media tools out there.

Effective enough to possibly have had the U.S. government request that Twitter postpone its scheduled downtime for maintenance purposes. Originally scheduled for last night, the scheduled downtime was pushed back until 2 pm PST today. For the past day or so many Twitter users have been posting tweets making the same request, but an article on Mashable suggests that the government may have had a large hand in Twitter rescheduling its maintenance.
If that is the case, what does it mean?

While the U.S. government has steered clear getting too involved with the controversy, its potential ability to recognize the power of Twitter’s microblogging platform as a means of catalyzing revolution is a major acknowledgment on all counts. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that President Obama and his current administration is rather supportive of new media and social networking as means of widespread communication and the empowerment of the people.

Additionally, Twitter’s cooperation in pushing back the scheduled down time, one way or another, is indicative of Twitter’s awareness of the situation in Iran. A lot of emotion is involved with the election-related protests, and Twitter has proven itself a global powerhouse in regards to its ability to spread information and put a lot of power in the hands of the people.

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Inspiring the Vote

by Michelle Lentz on August 21, 2008

by Michelle Lentz

I’m sure we’ll be rocking the vote message a couple times here on bub.blicio.us before that day in November rolls around. It’s not that we don’t trust you, but we want you to spread the word to your friends and family.

Palm has partnered with Rivercave Productions to create a beautiful video meant to inspire those younger than us to vote this year. It’s a vivid reminder not to put things off for tomorrow and that they should be done today.

The short video, called “Citizen’s Cry,” is executive produced by Hooman Khalili, founder of Rivercame Productions, written by Adam Ottley, and directed by Corey Rosen, whose credits include “Iron Man,” “Superman Returns,” “Star Wars,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “War of the Worlds.”

“Citizen’s Cry” is a passionate endeavor made possible by Palm, Inc. and the vision and foresight of their Vice President of PR, Lynn Fox.  Palm, Inc. funded this project and built the landing page.

I’m currently a bit stressed out that all this ruckus with Russia and Georgia is the precursor to World War III. (I should not wake up to NPR in the morning.) So I was pretty moved when I first saw “Citizen’s Cry” and I’ll share it with my younger siblings, all whom are now old enough to vote in their first presidential election.

No matter which candidate you support, spread the message to vote, and get the younger generation involved.

Citizen’s Cry PSA

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Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology.

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