How Social Media Is Ruining Politics

[Gutenberg]

How Social Media Is Ruining Politics
It is turning out to be more encompassing and controlling, more totalizing, than earlier media ever was.
[...]

"In the 1960s, television gave candidates their bodies back, at least in two dimensions. With its jumpy cuts and pitiless close-ups, TV placed a stress on sound bites, good teeth and an easy manner. Image became everything, as the line between politician and celebrity blurred. John Kennedy was the first successful candidate of the TV era, but it was Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton who perfected the form. Born actors, they could project a down-home demeanor while also seeming bigger than life.

Today, with the public looking to smartphones for news and entertainment, we seem to be at the start of the third big technological makeover of modern electioneering."

read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... 213104?o=0

[Gutenberg]

In the piece above Nicholas Carr goes far to argue that Social Media is the main explanation of Donald Trump's sudden popularity. However, social media can hardly be the only explanation for this.

Here is a chart of cable-TV coverage of the different political candidates:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... on/402451/

The 2016 Candidates Who Are Making Headlines

Our interactive graphic offers a real-time snapshot of the race, using media attention to track the fortunes of the presidential hopefuls.

[Gutenberg]

Pithy, Mean and Powerful: How Donald Trump Mastered Twitter for 2016

“He’s used social media to replace the traditional apparatus of a political campaign,” said Zac Moffatt, who oversaw Mitt Romney’s digital outreach in 2012 and co-founded Targeted Victory, a consulting firm focused on online campaign tactics. “Trump is living on this medium.”

read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/po ... -2016.html