New media increasingly important for 2012 presidential campaign

New media continues to play an even more important role in the presidential campaign. Candidates like Mitt Romney and President Obama are using Facebook to maintain strong networks of supporters. Potential candidates like Sarah Palin have also used Twitter to reach out to the news media by responding to every top story in political news. As Ari Shapiro of NPR wrote, “this time around, there will be even more new technologies no presidential candidate has used before, such as canvassing apps for the iPhone and iPad, or location-targeting technologies for field organizers.” The worth of these tools is debatable, and remains to be seen, but the expectation that candidates get creative to gain an edge is ever present.

It is no surprise, then, that candidates attempting to make a quick splash have taken their announcement statements to sites like Facebook. For Mitt Romney’s announcement speech created for Facebook, see the following video:

Discussion Questions:

1.  How has new media given candidates the edge in previous campaigns?

2.  How has the prevalence of new media in presidential elections sometimes been a curse on the campaign trail?

3.  What new kinds of social media do you predict will play a major role in the 2012 presidential election?