"A Focus Group in the Wild"

          I read an interesting article this week regarding the use of social media in the recent election. The primary claim that the article makes is that voters turn to old media—television—as their primary new source in elections. Andrew Kohut, President of PEW Research Center says, “Social media has been much heralded but relatively little used by average voters.” Only 2 percent of voters sought news through Twitter, 3 percent from YouTube, and 6 percent through Facebook.

           What is most interesting about this subject is the way that we can analyze the pros and cons of social media in a professional setting like this one. The drawback of social media here is that it is mostly citizen journalism, not fact. Voters are dramatically less likely to believe something that “Aunt Sharon” says over an actual news reporter on TV. As far as the benefits, a great quote from the article is, “Powers calls twitter a focus group in the wild. With hundred of thousands of tweets responding to each debaters speech as seen on cable tv. It is a layered conception of media, old and new, coexisting like modern apartments buildings standing amidst the ancient ruins in Rome”. The benefit of social media here is not to get facts or news—but to get opinion. I think that this may not have been the purpose of social media, but it is certainly its future.