I write about science during the early hours of the morning and in the evenings. My day job involves working with social media. I manage corporate Facebook and Twitter accounts, and keep up to date on newcomers like Instagram and Pinterest.
My two worlds collided when I wrote about social media and politics for the October 2012 issue of Odyssey magazine. Some of the experts I spoke to believe that social media helped Obama win in 2008 — and I agree that it certainly didn’t hurt. It’s just another form of marketing and outreach, one that gets friends talking to friends.
In a presidential election year, politics tends to take over Facebook walls and Twitter streams… and TVs and newspapers and radios, too. You can’t get away from it!
One thing I didn’t talk about in the article (because I wrote it back in June) was the role of social media in debates. In less than half a second after Romney said “binders full of women,” someone had claimed that Tumblr name. Every clever quip or silly gaffe perpetuates through Twitter, like ripples spreading across the surface of a pond. I had just as much fun watching Twitter on debate nights as I did watching the actual debate.
At this point, though, I’m mostly glad that I don’t have to watch any more election ads — on any form of media, new or old.
