Erin Minne, Intern
Wherever I go these days, everyone seems to be talking about the presidential candidates and upcoming elections. The last time I checked, I don’t live in D.C., so why am I bombarded with chatter about Obama’s health care policy or how Romney may or may not be paying his share in taxes? How come my friend who usually prefers the topic of discussion to be about shoes or the Kardashians was all of a sudden telling me about how Akin is not the first representative to not provide “legitimate” responses?
In today’s fast-paced world, people can use their smartphones, tablets, and laptops to remain active in global discussions that they normally used to only see on the Sunday paper or the 6 o’clock news. Now my shoe-friend has a twitter feed, where she can read short snippets that are written for the very purpose to be easily shared.
More people are talking about the upcoming presidential debates, probably due to the fact that this time around they’re aware of them. Most major TV stations will be live-streaming the debates, and some are even featuring running Twitter feeds while the programs are aired. With convenient access to current hot topics, more and more people can put in their two cents about their particular politics.
As CBS News reported, “NBC is trying several different approaches, including flashing Twitter messages at the bottom of its TV screen, setting up several hashtags to gather tweets and give both viewers and correspondents a destination to share thoughts, streaming speeches on Facebook and hiring a company to measure the sentiment of online commentary.”
Hashtags will allow voters to follow particular topics that interest them the most, and rather than going to one website to receive their information, voters will receive news from both the public and professional figures on multiple platforms; all sides are represented on the Internet community.
So will you be keeping track of your favorite presidential candidate? I know I will, because what I read and retweet will help decide my #Vote.
To read more about what other stations are doing, visit https:///ow.ly/dd34f