What will there come after blogs and social networks? Is there any step further?
Maybe in the future we will be able, as citizens, to vote the laws from Facebook. Do you imagine that? We could be our own representatives. It is utopic but 20 years ago social networks would had been too.
What do you think?
I have been thinking about this and I realized that the main reason of why many politicians do not like blogs is their reputation. It has to do with being criticized without any respect to them. There you are free to tell them: I do not agree, I do, You should do it better… and indeed their public opinion will increase or decrease. Also, in some countries they get exposed to security issues. However, this is nothing new because they are exposed every day at every time. Perhaps the problem is deeper: many people do not take this as a “right” to talk with them and instead threat other people, most of the time the politician. They need to learn some ethics.
So, I repeat: are we ready for blogging with the Party or the Ministry? Or do we need to read a book of how to behave on the Internet? I guess that as long as we don’t learn to respect each other, no comments will be allowed in many webs. And they would be really boring since feedback is the most important aspect about blogging. It would be useless if La Moncloa, The White House, the PP had a blog just for sharing pictures or news. We need to let them know many things. But before that happens: we must learn to blog and that implies being ethical too. As always, the education is the key to many social problems. Blogs are new, but educaction and ethics are not.
“Facebook” is a word that is not even in the Oxford dictionary but almost everybody has an account there. It is not defined but we all know what it is. Nowadays people relate with their friends through threre. Do you remember when people had to call their friends in order to meet somewhere? It was not possible to leave a comment, an advice or even to chat. Therefore I think we didn’t relate as much as we do now.
Well, that happens with social relationships: they are changing. The same is happening with politics. Not many years ago we had to read the newspapers and watch the news if we wanted to know what was happening in the Congress, for example. Mass media used to tell what they thought it was the best information (gatekeeper) and if you didn’t agree with them it was actually your problem. Feedback was very difficult since they couldn’t attend to all their audience. Have you ever tried to call a newspaper and tell them what you think? Do you think they would publish your opinion on the printed version if you didn’t agree? That was in the past. Now it’s possible to follow them on the Internet, to comment their news, rate them.
In my account on Facebook I joined the “ABC” and I have to say that it has impressed me the way they act. Not just because they allow to comment (even bad comments!) but also because must of the times they answer when you have questions. They will let you know when your comments are interesting and they encourage people to participate. I did the same on Facebook with the “Presidency” of Mexico. Although they don’t really encourage people to comment, they allow to post anything, good or bad. The Presidency Area is very active and they post a lot of information which is useful for citizens. I also joined the “Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores” on Facebook but they don’t allow comments. However, they upload pictures, information, links to other webs. I have to say I am impressed.
These are some examples of how Media and Politicians are interacting with the citizenship thanks to Social Networks. It is new and not everybody is willing to have a blog. But if we, as citizens, are willing to have one, they should do it to. Not all of them agree, not all of them will do it. So we should encourage them and even demand them to have one because this way we can always be on touch.
