Gen X and politics

Being part of Generation X during the 2008 election I found it very interesting Barrack Obama used social media to get his message out. I thought it was fun, hip, and in tune with the people. I remember thinking gone are the days where the over 50 group controlled politics. Generally speaking the older a generation was the more disposable income they had, so they could contribute more to political campaigns. In the book socialnomics, Eric Qualman stated 92 percent of the money Obama raised was in increments of less than $100. That is hugh compared to politics of old.

On the flip side of that, the Republican Party has been slow to utilize social media as a form of getting their message out to the people. In 2008 John McCain admitted he had to be shown web sites because he did not know how to log on to the internet (Hardnen, 2008). In 2012 Mitt Romney did a little better and did use social media, but in the end he forgot people could record private speeches with cell phones in today’s world. And once that video hit YouTube there was not much to be done to rectify the situation.

Today’s political arena is changing and I think exciting. Social media is making people more engaged and the political candidates more accessible.

Works Cited

Hardnen, T. (2008, July 13). John McCain 'technology illiterate' doesn't email or use internet. Retrieved September 25, 2013, from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/johnmccain/2403704/John-McCain-technology-illiterate-doesnt-email-or-use-internet.html

Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.