We’re only a few hours away from the US presidential election. There is arguably no other event in modern world history that would deserve more real-time attention. And there is no comparable democratic mass event that would justify more social media coverage. Power to the people!
BlogHerald has put together a great list with The Best Blogs and Social Media Resources on Election Day, many of them micro-blogging services. Micro-bloggers will be what bloggers were in 2004 – the early-birds-catching-the-worm-and-writing-about-it-in-real-time opinion-makers. Funny enough, editorialized blog outlets such as Daily Kos count as traditional media this time, while openly social micro-blogs will dominate the online live coverage and will certainly not miss a beat. Or at least it will be interesting to see if they supersede expert commentary or if they’ll be a vibrant complement, the heart to the brain, so to speak.
Twitter, the most popular micro-blogging service, has launched an official Twitter election stream. Silicon Alley Insider doesn’t find it all too helpful, but still considers it to be valuable background noise: “Scores of TV reporters will be dipping into the real-time Twitter Election stream.” A more practical service might be the Twitter Vote Report, provided by the technology-meets-politics gurus at TechPresident. Users can submit tweets from their cell phones on Election Day and inform other voters about the conditions at polling locations. There is also an iPhone app which lets you rate your voting experience and add an audio report.
The Long Tail has arrived in politics, and on Election Day it will wag the dog.
Comments