Interrobang

The news is very exciting! Or, so it sounds. A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project was released just the other day (you can see an article about it here). The study shows evidence of growing involvement in "online civic engagement." The importance of this form of political participation will only continue to grow in time and the relationship between offline and online life, as they are often thought of now, will continue to blur. Those who draw a distinction between the two, in terms of the political world (and likely, many other realms of life), will be building unnecessary and antiquated boundaries.

Still, while leaps and bounds have been made in the role of social media in civic life since the '04 election, we can't be sure just yet as to how quickly this growth is taking place and what its impact will be. Let's take 1 example. Just compare the new report with Pew's previous report released in January in terms of social network site use. In the January report, 7% of all those polled said they used social networking sites for campaign info whereas 10% said so in the recent poll. This may be due to a real increase or may be an insignificant fluctuation resulting from sampling methods. I'm going to play optimist today and say that it is true growth as the role of social networking improves with the progression of the campaign.

Perhaps the most interesting finding from this study, and potentially threatening to the web's potentials in civic life is that 60% of those polled answered that they agreed with the following question (32% disagreed):
The internet is full of misinformation and propaganda that too many voters believe is accurate

It is no wonder so many people think this. Just jump on YouTube.com, type in a candidates name, and see what comes up: An endless list of attacks and misinformation. Obama is depicted as a "secret Muslim", a terrorist, and everything else under the sun. McCain is depicted as an alien on one site.

Some of the content out there is in full seriousness and some of it is in the spirit of humor. Still, the fact of the matter is that there are serious downsides to social media that threaten to influence politics and campaigns in ways we wouldn't normally think of. When we start turning to the collective intelligence of others and depending on our knowledge communities to bring us news and information, It becomes more and more difficult to decipher between what is "real" and what is a concoction.

It will be interesting to see how the phony business of politics and campaigning plays out. Any person with an internet connection, editing software, free time and a motive now has the ability to "swift boat" a candidate in any political arena, local or national. What, or should I ask who will present the biggest challenge to the candidates this election season and through what social media?