Oregon Public Broadcasting

1st congressional district 2012 election 2012 session agriculture art arts author beer births books budget business central oregon college congress crime culture death penalty eastern oregon economy education employment energy environment eugene fishing food gangs gay rights health health care high school history homeless housing jobs kids law legislature literature living media mental health military movies music native americans obama occupy portland occupy wall street onthejob oregon our town outdoors parenting police politics portland portland business journal portland mayor pregnancy prison public health race rebroadcast recess recession religion republicans rural schools science shooting sports supreme court talking business technology teen theater trailblazers unemployment union university of oregon washington water weekend women youth

While I definately support the use of social media tools for outreach by public officials, I think we need to remain aware of the way in which the choices of where to expend these resources reinforce inequities in access and participation.  I worry that social media may be just increasing access for those who already have access and increasing the homophiliy and echo-chamber effects endemic to political discourse.

In addition to basic "who has access to the internet?" issues, you can see this in the choice of social media platforms for outreach.  For example, while Ted Wheeler may have a significant presence on Facebook, he doesn't have a page on Myspace. Myspace has the same number of users as Facebook, however (and until very recently had more) so we have to ask ourselves why our public officials are ignoring 50% of the electorate. The answer, I would argue, is once again homophily. There is significant social stratification between different social networking sites, and I would guess that neither Ted Wheeler nor most of his associates have ever logged in to Myspace.

I guess my point is that as we start to embrace these new technologies we shouldn't get carried away in utopian ideals of the internet breaking down access bariers.

-Michael

Note: A lot of my argument here is cribbed from the wonderful Dr. danah boyd. Read her talk on this issue from the Personal Democracy Forum here - http://www.alternet.org/media/142356

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
view in context