Romney and Obama use of Facebook, Twitter as effective as Lady GaGa and Justin Bieber

Twitter, Facebook and computer technology are no longer just a way for teens to follow Justin Bieber's every move; they're changing the face of modern elections.

Experts suggest social media is making the political process more accessible and more accurate.

A study released last week by Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports that new technologies have helped reduce disqualified ballots, increased the accuracy of mail-in voting and improved voter-registration records.

Michael Alvarez, a co-author of the study, said voters may not see a noticeable change in the process, but behind-the-scenes changes - like post-election audits - have made voting significantly less error-prone than it was in the days of Florida's hanging chad.

Even so, Alvarez admits some issues like voter fraud and the accuracy of vote-by- mail still need to be addressed.

"Essentially what's happened over the last decade is that a field of study has been invented, and we've made an enormous amount of progress," Alvarez said. "We have a science now we can draw upon, and we think that's a huge success."

With technology creeping into the voting process, the question remains how computers and the Internet will fit in. Alvarez says it's unlikely that online voting will ever happen, although countries such as Estonia are already doing it.

"Right now the risks are concerning when we think about voting online," he said.

But even if voters will never be able to cast their vote with one click, technology has transformed many other aspects of state and national elections.

Fred Ortega, the social- media coordinator for Rep. Judy Chu, D-El Monte, said he has seen the use of Twitter expand dramatically since the last election, when Facebook was the primary outreach tool.

In 2012, Ortega said, not having a social-media presence is just not an option.

"The avenues one has are incredible," Ortega said. "It seems like nowadays if you are going to go into government and politics, it's almost de facto that you have to have Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, a website, and there are seminars on the Hill for this kind of stuff. That's how required it is."

Jack Orswell, Chu's challenger in the 27th Congressional District, agreed that social-media use is inherent in communicating with voters. That communication, he said, often translates into more voters at the polls.

"I need to get people fired up to vote, so I think social media not only does a good job of communicating the issues, but also gets people excited about voting, and to me that's the biggest thing," Orswell said.

Morley Winograd, a USC expert on politics in the information age, said the 2012 election has seen a dramatic increase in social media and technology use since 2008.

"Basically, in 2008, it was considered groundbreaking when the presidential campaign for Barack Obama created a Facebook-like website," Winograd said. "What you see in 2012 is another exponential gain in the capabilities and the capacity of the kinds of social network campaigns we are now witnessing."

Winograd said the results of the 2012 election will reveal the success of social media in campaigning.

"We are going to have a great test in the 2012 election about its effectiveness because the Obama campaign has invested a lot more money and effort ... in this arena than the Romney campaign has," Winograd said. "We don't know yet if that is a more effective use of a campaign dollars."

It's not just the candidates that are taking advantage of these new media channels, but news agencies, advocacy groups and voters themselves are turning to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to get involved in the campaign.

From YouTube stars like the Fung Brothers to bloggers like Angry Asian Man to Twitter accounts for every gaffe politicians make, it's easy for anyone to get a political message out there.

"Everyone is a producer, and everyone is a consumer," Winograd said.

And because everyone is talking about them on social media, political events like the presidential debates have become like sporting events in the Twitter-verse.

"Everybody is watching and everybody is telling everybody else what they think about what they are watching," Winograd said. "That makes it more important to watch it when it's happening."

This added attention, Ortega said, means candidates are under more scrutiny than ever. Humorous Twitter handles like @InvisibleObama, @FiredBigBird2 and @RomneyBinders appearing after each convention and debate, he said, are examples of how voters are holding candidates more accountable for everything they say.

"It's not about being under the media microscope anymore, it's about being under millions of microscopes at one time," Ortega said. "It ups the consequences of a misspoken word."

But the high volume of information disseminated through social media can also be too much and "clutter the message," he said.

"It's a bit of a two-edged sword," Ortega said. "But I think the benefits outweigh the detriments."

Ultimately, whether it's the Fung Brothers' "Does Your Asian Mom Vote," Facebook events for local campaigns or by-the-minute fact checking by news agencies on Twitter, Winograd said the trend toward a more tech-savvy election process is a step in the right direction.

"There is a reason why freedom of the press is enshrined in our Bill of Rights. The founders thought that the ability for anyone to read whatever they wanted to read was important to democracy," Winograd said, "and these social networks have brought that capability back. ... I think this is a very good trend for the long-term health of American democracy."

lauren.gold@sgvn.com

626-578-6300, ext. 4586

Source: http://www.whittierdailynews.com/ci_21832200/romney-and-obama-use-facebook-twitter-effective-lady?source=rss_viewed

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