Politics and Social Media: Winning Combination or (Another) Accident Waiting to Happen?

Similar to real estate, healthcare, travel and many other industries, politics is going through an interactive evolution.  It is not uncommon to see politicians using Twitter, blogs or YouTube to connect with their followingMany believe social media played a major role in Barack Obama’s landslide victory in the 2008 Presidential Election.  

On the surface, it seems like employing social media would be a smart PR move; a cost effective way to keep concerned citizens up to date on local and national issues while interacting with them on a more personal level.  

But Anthony Weiner has brought doubts to this former winning campaign idea.  People are now saying that politics and social media is a risky combination.  They think they should stick to traditional television and radio campaigns.  Do you agree?      

Because I don’t.  If everyone was supposed to give up on social media because one person messed up, no one would be using it today.  Businesses, celebrities and brands would all have to stop because someone already made a mistake.  I don’t even need to list examples of social media mistakes because we hear a new story every day.    

We might not all be celebrities or politicians, but we would have to stop using social media too.  I bet you know or have heard of someone who lost their job because they posted an inappropriate comment about their boss on Facebook. 

I’m losing track of the point here.  The point is: there are millions of resources available to help people understand and properly use social media tools; however, there will always be someone who does not “get it.”  Someone will ways make a mistake, but just because one person messes up does not mean we should all jump ship.  Anthony Weiner is not the first, nor will he be the last person to publicly mess up on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform.