Social Media And Politics

Ever wonder how social media might influence the world of politics? It already has. Many people consider President Obama’s effective use of social media a contributing factor to his success. Now the question is emerging about how to regulate candidates’ use of these tools. Here’s an interesting piece that talks about some real life examples. One of the issues that regulators are wrestling with is whether certain tools can even be regulated. For example, if a candidate is required to put a disclaimer on a promotion, like “I’m Joe Candidate and I approved this ad” (and by the way, what’s the point of that anyway? Do candidates ever run commercials for themselves that they don’t approve? But I digress) how does he squeeze that mouthful into a 140 character tweet and still have room for a message? Interesting. Here’s my prediction. There will be regulations and there will be loopholes. Whoa. Going way out on the limb there, huh?