#PoliticallyCorrect

As if social and digital media did not run our daily lives already a new era has been rung in, digital political campaigns. Our first reading for this week kind of set the premise and theoretical basis for what this new phenomenon is, interactivity. Barbara Warnick writes about the guidelines and research done on interactivity and concludes that is that in which users connect with a speaker on a common cause. She writes about the political campaigns of the 2004 election and shows that interactivity functions rhetorically to advance the agendas of candidates. This shows that political figures are stepping on board the digital media train, now more than ever, to join voters under a common cause.  

The next article by Janet Johnston focused on the use rhetoric on Twitter in the 2012 presidential campaigns. She states that, "Social media changes the way candidates react to situations as well as how Americans can respond, support, and gather information about both candidates." So how does this new use of digital and social media affect us as voters in any kind of elections? Well data shows that President Obama's "Change" campaign was one of the driving forces behind his win and reelection. So if he is the first to really solidify the use of rhetoric and Twitter as its outlet then what will come of the next campaigns?  Johnson again describes the use of rhetoric by stating, "Political candidates must learn to use rhetoric in the digital world. When a person learns to communicate a clear, concise, and effective message at the appropriate time and direct that message to a specific audience about a certain situation, that person creates leverage. By creating “rhetorical leverage,” political candidates communicate messages effectively with the electorate and create an advantage. The candidates can possibly neutralize messages created by their opponents in other traditional media by learning to use virtual rhetoric effectively and take advantage of the rhetorical situation through these new rhetorical media."

Rhetoric, being the use of language to construct clear and effective messages for an audience and a specific situation, plays a key role in everyday life and once again, like Warnick states, bring people together on a common cause. That also is prevalent in Amber Davisson's piece on Google Maps as a rhetorical invention in the 2008 election. The use of the traditional red and blue maps were used to divide our country by affiliations; however, in 2008 Google created user generated maps that sought to band a divided country together into what they could unite and become. Instead of the traditional read and blue mixed maps we see around election time,  alternative maps created during the 2008 presidential election, show the seeds of future political action. Here lies a potential future where users can collaborate and participate in the political interpretation of the spaces they occupy on a daily basis.

Social media plays a heavy role in now just about every aspect of our lives. Political parties and their communication through social media gives voters a firsthand experience of the political process in real time, which television, radio, and print could not accomplish in past elections.