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The New World Order: the shifting power balance of social media, online campaigning and governing

  • Artigo
Social media

By 2010, Millennials and Generation Y will outnumber Baby Boomers and 96 percent of this new generation will have joined an online social network.

According to measurement firm Hitwise, Twitter -- one of the newest and most popular social networks -- grew in Australia by over 1,000 percent since the beginning of 2009. It’s annual growth since last April tops 3,200 percent and Twitter is now the 37th most viewed website in Australia.

With social media site like Twitter taking off at rapid speeds in Australia and across the world, we are on the verge of a “new world order,” a phrase last used by President George H.W. Bush to describe the post Cold War era.

Social media is shifting power away from Government and into the hands of citizens. Communication can no longer take the form of a monologue; rather it must be a less controlled and less organised dialogue. This shift will be a major challenge to political parties and Governments which have a system of central control, and disciplined messaging.

As one communication strategist put it, "A candidate who can master the Internet will not only level the playing field; he will level the opposition."

There are examples across the world of social engagement impacting political action. In April, for example, 10,000 people in Moldova protested recent elections by holding a peaceful protest using Twitter, the blogosphere, the internet, SMS and websites. As a result, the Government initiated a dialogue with the opposition parties to include them, together with international experts, in a commission due to investigate the unrest.

Something similar happened in the war between Georgia and Russia last summer, when it was claimed Russian Internet users bonded together to start and organise their own cyberattacks on Georgian targets.

There is no better example of social networking impacting politics than the recent US Presidential election of Barack Obama. Through the web he was able to attract more than 10 million supporters, volunteers and donors - changing the entire face of campaigning. He is now using the tools that helped propel him in to office to govern. “Organizing for America,” a site that sends messages, emails and updates to members urging their support on a range of Government issues, has become a powerful tool for the President to urge Congress to accept his proposals.

The entire notion of communicating in campaigns and informing stakeholders has changed. The new world order does not allow the conversation to be dictated or controlled. Governments now have the ability to enable, influence or steer issues in a certain direction when new media is used properly.

Despite the progress of social media across the word, the Australian Government’s use of social media tools in governing is still very much in its infancy. However, there are some examples of our leaders moving to embrace these new tools.

Late last year, for example, the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), launched a blog to provide a space for discussion of thoughts and ideas about the digital economy. The blog was open for two weeks from 8 to 24 December 2008 and attracted 1500 comments, most focusing on the Government’s trial of filtering at the ISP (Internet Service provider) level. This was a brave move by the Department and Government to allow visibility into the feedback it was receiving – but it also showed there are still inroads to make in our government’s ability to use social media tools effectively.

At our Politics and Technology Forum which took place in Canberra in February 2009, the Leader of the Opposition was observed to be twittering live at the forum. The Forum became the third ranking conversation in the world on Twitter that day, showing that discussions in Australia can now reach a world stage.

The appeal of social media is clear; it is a place for sharing ideas, information, and values through text, videos and other related files and content.

Social media can also serve as an important vehicle in emergency disaster situations. The recent devastating Victorian bushfires in Australia saw social media sites such as Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook explode, becoming a focal point for victims and their families.

Government agencies in Australia are looking at ways to provide up-to-the-minute information and updates in emergency situations through social media tools, just look at NSW Police Twitter, which is used to issue warnings and seek information from the public after getting the idea from an a bogus NSW Police account.

The time has come for our government not only to embrace this new media, but to be able to use it effectively.

Sassoon Grigorian, Manager, Government Affairs

Technorati Tags: New world order,social media,twitter,governing

Author’s note: This piece was written before the Iranian Presidential election and points raised in this article are relevant to the use of social media both prior and post the Iranian Presidential election particularly by supporters of Opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi. These points were raised at my address at the Lowy Institute’s New Voices Forum this month (June 2009).

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