Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Future Role of Social Networks in the American Democracy Through the Lens of Privacy and Permanence

Online social networks (OSN) area phenomenon that has been building steadily for several years, and seemingly culminating with a prominent spot in the United States presidential election of 2008. They have been hailed as the next big thing in politics, and the crown jewel that pushed Barack Obama over the top, and into the White House (though not all are convinced of power of the all-mighty OSN). OSN's such as Facebook and MySpace are gaining a more prominent place at the communications or media "table" almost daily. This is in spite of the growing privacy problem that they cannot seem to shake. Users of OSN want to be able to share information with all those that they deem worthy , and the networks tell them how to limit others access, what will be shared, what will be saved, etc. The users must also agree to the term of use, so they are informed of the policies. The privacy paradox comes into play when user information is shared in a manner the user did not desire (though may have consented to). This is typical for the Web 2.0 technology that gave rise to OSN phenomenon. Another part of the privacy issue is permanence. OSN data can be permanent, coming back to haunt users later in life. As OSN continue to grow and evolve as a political tool or force in the American democracy, how will issues of privacy and permanence shape their future?

In light of that question, I will examine the future role of Facebook and MySpace, and their ability to shape elections and policy in the United States. I will also explore the use of OSN as a tool well used by one campaign, barely tested by the other. Is it a tool for immediate payoff only (voting now), or does it serve to build a loyal base for years to come (branding)?

A couple of websites that have been very helpful are FirstMonday , a peer reviewed journal of internet studies, and The Center for Digital Democracy. (These links are to the homepages of the twosite, not specific works to be used in my paper)


 

urls in case embedded links don't work:

http://firstmonday.org/

http://www.democraticmedia.org/

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