Twitter and Political Discourse

Political discourse has seen a tremendous shift within the last two years due to the presence of new communication technologies and cultural developments. The most talked about, and possibly most useful, of these new technologies is the micro-blogging service called Twitter.

From the amusing, such as the comments of President Obama regarding rapper Kanye West ("He's a jackass"), to the serious, most notably the "Green for Iran" movement in which the world showed its support for Iranian protesters calling for representative leadership, Twitter has created an uncensored and highly efficient way to disseminate information that would otherwise have never seen circulation. Providing one of possibly the most democratically structured information technologies to date, Twitter has created both a new social space and political playing field.

But the disintegration of the traditional hierarchy of the media circuit has not been without its hassles. Lack of editors, account hacking, and an unclear social space in terms of netiquette all serve to create an environment in flux. In example, the aforementioned remarks of President Obama regarding Kanye West were tweeted by a journalist from his cell phone while Obama was speaking off the record.

In recent days, Twitter has become increasingly stable, sporting "Verified Account" logos for high-profile individuals, introducing a "Trending Topics" list that recalls Google Trends, and most recently allowing accounts to be separated into lists for easy viewing. But the stabilization has likely occurred because users have created a network of norms and communities that more efficiently facilitates a new democratic form of information sharing.

Only time will tell the effect Twitter will have on national and world politics in the long term. Recent trends suggest Twitter is here to stay as an innovative political tool until yet another communication technology muscles its way into tech-savvy users' consciousness.

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Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisSosa