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Politics 2.0 – Social Media, Crowdsourcing, Virtual Events and the Future of Democracy

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Politics 2.0 – Social Media, Crowdsourcing, Virtual Events and the Future of Democracy
By: Ike Singh, August 11, 2011

From Cairo to Capitol Hill, Citizens Are Raising Their Digital Voices For more than a decade, political analysts have touted the potential of the Internet to act as a force for freedom and democracy in the world. These analysts rightly maintain that access to information is a prerequisite for building an open society. But, while access to information may be an important component of political freedom, the last year has demonstrated that the ability to communicate may be even more critical. For example, the recent demonstrations in Egypt show the power of social media to connect people around a cause. In addition, Iceland’s crowdsourced constitution demonstrates that social media can be a tool for participation, not just activism. Finally, the U.S. debt crisis shows the new level to which politicians are willing to use social media as a tool to apply political pressure. Moving forward, social media, crowdsourcing, and virtual events are going to have a major impact on the future of democracy. Three Ways the Internet Has Already Changed Politics Forever Social Media…“Twitter Revolution” or Just Chirping in the Wind? – Over the last two years, Twitter and Facebook have emerged as powerful tools for helping citizens across the world to communicate and organize. Nowhere has the impact of social media been more strongly felt than in Egypt, where Twitter and Facebook played a significant role in the protests that resulted in the removal of the previous administration. Moving forward, a technical arms race is already shaping up between the key social media players who want to facilitate the free-flow of information and entrenched political players who believe they have an incentive to restrict communication amongst their citizens. Only time will tell how this will play out, but, if history is any judge, political leaders may find information to be a difficult beast to cage. Iceland Creates a Crowdsourced Constitution – Located in the North Atlantic Ocean, thousands of miles from the sandy dunes of Egypt,

Iceland is experimenting with an entirely different kind of digital political participation. As the country attempts to revise its new constitution, it has turned to crowdsourcing as a mechanism to ensure directly political participation by its citizens. In addition, rather than create a specialized tool to collect feedback, the Constitutional Council has turned to traditional social media channels. As Berghildur Bernhardsdotti, spokeswoman for the project, told the Associated Press, “It is possible to register through other means, but most of the discussion takes place via Facebook.” If Iceland’s attempt at direct political participation is successful, it may serve as a model for other countries who want to encourage direct citizen engagement. President Obama #Compromise’s His Way Into the Digital Future – For citizens of every political affiliation, the recent debt crisis represented a pivotal event in the history of American politics. Setting aside the political and economic implications of the stalemate, one aspect of the crisis that jumped out at me was the use of social media as a tool for driving citizen engagement. The fact that the President of the United States would take time during a televised speech to ask citizens to send #compromise Twitter messages shows the level to which politicians have begun to realize the power of social media. As the debt crisis subsides and Election 2012 begins to heat up, we will undoubtedly see social media play a decisive role in how America chooses its next president. Can Virtual Events be a Political Meeting Place of Last Resort? In an increasingly connected world, what role can virtual events play in expanding political engagement? For starters, as I discussed in a previous article, virtual events are likely to play a significant role in future elections in the United States and across the world. More broadly speaking, virtual events have the potential to provide an alternative meeting place for citizens at times when in-person gatherings are not an option. In their current form, most virtual events are run by large corporations or organizations. But, as self-service solutions continue to improve, virtual events will increasingly become an option for smaller organizations, special interest groups, and citizens to meet in the pursuit of political change.

Summary
For more than a decade, political analysts have touted the potential of the Internet to act as a force for freedom and democracy in the world. These analysts rightly maintain that access to information is a prerequisite for building an open society.

Over the last two years, Twitter and Facebook have emerged as powerful tools for helping citizens across the world to communicate and organize. Nowhere has the impact of social media been more strongly felt than in Egypt, where Twitter and Facebook played a significant role in the protests that resulted in the removal of the previous administration.

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Moving forward, a technical arms race is already shaping up between the key social media players who want to facilitate the free-flow of information and entrenched political players who believe they have an incentive to restrict communication amongst their citizens. Only time will tell how this will play out, but, if history is any judge, political leaders may find information to be a difficult beast to cage.

Tags: Collective Knowledge, Crowdsourcing, democracy, events, Innovation, Social Media

Posted by Pablo Braccini

Aug 11, 2011 11:20 pm GMT Viewed 2280 times

Author: Ike Singh Source

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