July 13th, 2009
Social networks change how we understand Sotomayor nomination
Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor are happening now, with partisan forces on both sides cheering on their relevant Senators. The debate, of course, is also happening online, The Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas reports.
One Facebook group, “Sonia Sotomayor for U.S. Supreme Court Justice” now boasts 9,866 members. Confirm Sonya Sotomayor has more than 13,000. There’s also
Don’t Confirm Sonia Sotomayor!” (1600) and Sonia Sotomayor is a racist! and many more.
No surprises there. Hardly worth mentioning perhaps. Except that this may be one more area where we are changing from a media filter to to a social network filter based on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
“Yes, at the end of the day, the Senate decides on whether or not she’s confirmed. And, yes, the press is still playing a role in framing how Sotomayor is viewed. But that’s changing,” said Clay Shirky, a social Web expert and author of “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.”
“A few years ago, when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court, a political clock started running. The politicians form their talking points. The press tries to frame the nominee and reporters compete to get to the mountaintop to try to define the nominee,” Shirky added. “But what’s interesting now is that we’re getting, I think, a real political plurality. People are using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social networks to discuss Sotomayor and establish their own opinions.”
But Facebook groups … does that sway senators’ votes? Absolutely not. But hearing from constitutents does. So Mike Panetta, who created a pro-Sotomayor Facebook page the day Obama announced the nomination also created a form to allow people to email their senators’ offices.
“Senators are moved by constituents writing to their offices about particular issues. So it’s important that it’s not just a fan page or a group. You have to take action,” said Panetta, who works at Grassroots Enterprise, an online strategy firm. “Since I live in D.C. and don’t have a specific senator to lobby, I’m trying to mobilize people in other states.”
