Originally published on the CGS blog on July 5, 2011.
On June 28, 2011, the Brookings Institution held a panel discussion regarding the new age of social media and its roles in engaging American and global citizens in government. This is more than a relevant topic; this blog itself serves as an example of citizens using social media for civic participation. Various experts discussed the use of websites such as Facebook and Twitter in both the “Arab Spring” and domestic grassroots political organization.
The panel of experts included Macon Phillips (Obama’s Director of Digital Strategy), Diana Owen (a political science professor at Georgetown), Lee Rainie (director of Pew internet & American Life Project), and Mindy Finn (a partner at the tech consulting firm Engage). The panelists highlighted the correlation between those who participate in social media and those who participate civically. Essentially, social networking tools provide a semi-permeable membrane between citizens and their political representatives. With the use of these websites, politicians can relay current information to their constituencies, who in turn can use the same tools to respond. They also discussed how this connection could be continued and fostered in organizing political groups and making the system even more about “the people”; programs such as GoogleDocs and WikiSpaces create online forums where people can come together and more easily communicate their desires to their representatives.
The revolutionary implications of social media were also discussed. As recent political events have made clear, social networking sites allow for just about anyone with internet access to be heard, and oppressed people can use these mechanisms as a means to communicate with each other and the world to advance their cause. Also being discussed, and relevant to CGS goals, was the idea that other, less publicized oppressed groups could use these precedents to speak up themselves and eventually find their own justice.
This was an eye-opening presentation, and hopefully social media’s role in politics will allow everyone to be heard, changing the world one hashtag at a time.
