Social Media & Political Influence

Earlier while catching up on the ongoing protests and current events in Wisconsin, I came on an article in the Guardian which got my gears turning again on the subject of social media.  Increasingly the role of social media in political change has been an area of focus and concern throughout our varied news outlets.  Opinions have been abundant on the subject, particularly in the wake of the wave of political change still crashing through the Middle East.  However the question Dave Karpf’s Guardian article brought to my attention was one that seems a bit less commonly asked these days.

It seems at least fairly well accepted that social media is as valid a tool of organization as any other these days, if not more so.  Further it seems understood that the role of social media is that of a tool rather than a force in and of itself.  Some of the older social and civic organizations around the world have been rather slow about embracing these new tools, often alienating those who rely on them and raising the question of whether or not these organizations still have much worth.  Plenty of the oldest organizations in the nation are suffering an aging membership as they scramble to get a handle on “this internet thing” but Karpf’s article might serve as a quality warning about just how much these traditional organizations remain important in our society.

On either side of the United States’ political fence, the internet seems to be a growing field for organizing and voicing dissent.  However our political institutions are rather thoroughly entrenched and so long as there isn’t mobilization for dramatic social change they’re quite resistant to the incremental demands of discontents.  Historically this has often been for the best, and the inherently deliberative nature of our presidential system doesn’t really lend itself to rapid political change. Yet, as traditional organizations are undermined by their own hesitation to adapt, technological inadequacy, and legislation targeting them, the question remains just how Americans should influence their politicians more frequently than with each new election cycle.

This isn’t a debate over the value of social media, and it’s my hope that we are approaching the end of questioning the value of this “new medium” in organizing people.  Instead I think the point raised in Karpf’s article might shed light on a few better questions regarding the general influence of public organization on the process of governance.  The ability to organize people efficiently, quickly, semi-covertly and without reliance on traditional media has certainly revolutionized people’s ability to act politically, but I’m not so certain how much this ability has influenced  the structures of causing institutional change.  A mass of bodies, firm demands and the leverage to force institutions to give in to those demands seems as critical as ever.