Welcome to the Federalist Tensions blog! The launch of this site is the result of my work on a project for a course I am taking in the Master of Arts in Emerging Media Program at Loyola University Maryland. My research focus for this program has been the role of social media in political communication. Although social media has provided citizens with opportunities for expanding their participation in the political process by providing the means to communicate directly with people in power and with their fellow citizens, issues have arisen. The emergence of social media onto the political scene presents dilemmas for political representatives and organizations which, by their very nature, prefer traditional broadcast media due to their preferences to control the conversation to further their aims; they are still learning to navigate the challenges of engaging in a dialogue with their constituencies.
Over the past year that I have been in this graduate program, the question of “how much is too much communication/democracy” in the political realm has fueled my research projects in the Emerging Media program. Not surprisingly, I have observed a climate of caution and trepidation on social media by an organization I have been studying in the field of political communication. Political office holders and organizations want to have citizen participation to gain their support, but they do not necessarily want to deal with the consequences of the citizenry’s amplified, engaged voices or to lose too much control over the content of their messaging. The research projects I have completed so far have just begun to scratch the surface of the complexities and challenges these struggles pose for organizations. I have yet to explore the flip side of this coin – how citizens use social media to create platforms from which they can not only voice their opinions, but also organize outside of traditional institutions to exercise their political capital as a check on those institutions.
This website, Federalist Tensions, seeks to improve political communications to grow stronger democracies. Its platforms will serve to foster a non-partisan dialogue with academics, political practitioners and interested citizens about the role of social media in both traditional political organizations and external political entities. By contributing to the improvement of political communications using social media in the most efficient and effective manner, Federalist Tensions will grow to be a resource for all those motivated to enhance their own political social media strategies.
That said, today is November 4th – Election Day. As valuable as political communication on social media may be, it is no substitute for the act of voting. So I encourage you to exercise your power to vote today, and I welcome you to join this community as we work together to find better ways of communicating to improve our political climate.