Number 8

I think that politicians are trying to use new media, but are still nervous about implications. Feingold uses his blog to post press releases. Twitter is not used to give insight into candidates lives, but as just another way to post links to the same press releases. I am not generally one who says I want to know what my president is really like, I want their policies to play the important role, but politicians have a unique chance with facebook and twitter to reach people on a more personal note. They can tell us who they are and why the policies are important that they are recommending.

Grassroots organizations as seen by the most recent elections can play a larger role then ever before. Reaching people 24 hours a day is now possible for small organizations. The two party system is still strong, but these organizations will force the democrats and republicans to look at the new issues.

Bloggers change the news cycle. Television has already made politics a 24/7 operation, but print is a powerful medium and now it is also 24/7.

I found that the internet is used differently by all three of these groups that I explored, but what I would want you all to take away form my presentation and my post is that politics has only just scratched the potential of the Web and the power and importance of new media will only continue to grow.

I will leave you with this: D.C political offices are starting to create a department specifically for new media in addition to traditional communication's offices