In Kries’s paper he writes about one of Obama’s staffers in the run-up to the election for party leader saying that their communications work, particularly online, was ‘‘all about driving the narrative.’ Barack Obama is the first presidential candidate whose victory has been attributed to his use of the Internet (Carpenter, 2010).
The people in Obama’s camp during the election knew that control of communications in a presidential campaign had to be maintained in a top down style while employing the social media campaigning strategies that had begun with Howard Dean. The Obama camp developed the my.barackobama.com website that was used to connect users and develop social networking. But they were also savvy enough to realize that they had to maintain a relationship with mainstream media in order to legitimize their work.
What Obama’s communications team were more successful at than his opponents were, was the ability to reach a demographic that had not been somewhat ignored, and that was youth. Lessig argued that in 2008, “The key networking advance in the Obama field operation was really deploying community-building tools in a smart way from the very beginning.” Youth were significant part of this community.
Barack Obama used online communication to reach people and by “Using the Web, the Obama camp turbocharged age-old campaign tools” (Lessig, 2008). Kriess was able to show in his paper that a hybrid news system was created to reach the masses.
Christensen is a little less optimistic about the impact the internet and social media movements can have on political activity. He points out that much of the activity round political discourse is merely a form of ‘slacktivism’. Morozov (2009) defines it as ‘political activities that have no impact on real–life political outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel–good factor of the participants.”
While Putnam (2000) claims that a ‘generational displacement’ from politics and public life has taken place by youth based on the rise of a passive television culture, others see a new form of participatory politics emerging. Youth civic participation has increased but in a way that has changed and evolved utilizing the digital world. Conventional participation in politics has been replaced by a ‘lifestyle politics’. Youth are more involved in the production of their political identities rather than adopting the one their parents, church or school tells them they should have and have created a new means of civic engagement that is described as “social movement citizenship” (Bennett, 2008). The generation gap in politics is being replaced by engaged youth who are forming Participatory Culture Civics (PCC) Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP) Networks focused on creating influence and influencing peers. Young people have adopted a ‘self-actualizing citizenship model’ in environments that are based on networking horizontally rather than top-down, where there is interactivity and opportunity to contribute and create.
Withdrawal from civic and political engagement by youth has been replaced by a new form of civic participation (that includes civic activities, such as volunteering, community service or activism. Youth are attracted to evolving means of civic engagement that include influence through consumerism including boycotts, blogging and having their say through various social media channels. They are exerting their influence in different forms, reaching larger audiences yet still influence politics on the ground as in the 2008 Obama campaign.
Yep. Xers and Yers have been essentially shut out from voicing their views and concerns via traditional media, so what do they do? They go out and develop their own. Older generations have had no choice but to sit up and pay attention, and try as they might, they'll never be as good at the SM game.
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