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By Meghan Waters, Class of 2014
If you tuned into the first presidential debate in Denver
back in October, I’m sure you remember some of the famous one-liners uttered
during those 90 minutes: Romney’s “Big Bird” comment, Lehrer’s “let’s not,” and
Obama’s “I had five seconds” just to name a few. And like many Americans (including myself)
you probably shared your thoughts via Twitter and/or Facebook. Not surprisingly, Twitter reported 10.3
million Tweets sent during the 90-minute debate. According to the data released by Twitter
(graphic), viewers’ favorite moment was Jim Lehrer’s “let’s not”
remark. That comment alone generated
158,690 Tweets per minute. Within
minutes of Mitt Romney’s “Big Bird” comment, there were several Twitter parody
accounts created, including @SadBigBird,
@BigBirdRomney and @FiredBigBird, as well as Facebook
pages and groups like my favorite, “Save Big Bird and Elmo from the Wicked
Mitt.”
The public’s online reaction to the debate dominated the
media for the next week or so after the event.
Talk of Big Bird and Lehrer filled the airwaves, articles and blogs
popped up left and right, all because these comments had garnered the American
public’s attention.
My point here is that the Internet and social media are
drastically changing politics in America. In seemingly "ancient" times, the American public would have tuned into the evening
news to hear journalists’ thoughts about the debate. News stations would have aired whatever the
commentators thought was relevant and important. And that would have been it. But nowadays, we as viewers (and Tweeters and
Facebookers) have a new, extraordinary power to shape the political agenda by
deciding for ourselves which issues are significant. Instead of being talked at, we now have the
ability to participate in and decide the direction of the political
conversation.
So use your powers wisely and remember, with great power
comes great responsibility!
Meghan Waters, from California, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is majoring in political science and justice administration with a minor in classical languages.