How Social Media Has Affected the Democratic National Convention

This week the Democratic National Convention (DNC) has been taking place in Charlotte and for arguably the first time ever, digital media is playing a role in the majority of all citizens affected. For the first time, the average person can document their experience of a political convention. In 2008, the Obama campaign effectively used social media to connect with the people but since then usage has skyrocketed.  Facebook usage has gone from 44.3 million users in 2008 to 143.3 million and Twitter has gone from 3.4 million users to 24.1 million in the last four years.

Just today I was able to take pictures of the DNC with my iPhone, Tweet them, post them on Facebook, and message them to my parents. These advances have massively changed accessibility to news and events. Instead of waiting for the morning newspaper or the 6 o’clock news, we can now access anything instantly from our smart phones or computers 24/7.

Figure 1 Occupy Wall Street Protest

This changes the way that an event like the Democratic National Convention works. Planners need to be aware of every move that is made because a blunder can instantly be caught and not even by the media. Just from a person with a camera on their phone. Police and security have to be more aware because marches, protests, and other threats can be planned in a moment’s notice through a text message or Facebook thread.

And on the other side, the DNC has created an application so that people could stay up to date with schedules of speakers, road closures, good places to eat, and follow Facebook and Tweet posts from the DNC hashtag #DNC2012. Also Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, many Senators, news anchors all have Twitter and Facebook pages for people to follow what they have to say.

We are living in a very exciting time, for the first time ever there was production space at the DNC for independent journalists by a group called the PPL. People are voicing their opinions on a public stage as well as political figures. Social media has changed the way we interact with each other and the way public figures interact back, and I think that is a good thing.

-Calvin Lescault