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John Edwards

One of my colleagues is a bit of a John Edwards fan, which is why this caught my eye: John Edwards is on Twitter. When I first heard about Twitter I thought it was ludicrous to keep everyone up to date on what you're doing to-the-minute! Being a high-tech luddite, I think we're already over-connected with wireless-everywhere, smart phones, etc. — why do we want even more? Yet we do.

However, Twitter is starting to make sense to me. The fascinating thing here is that John Edwards is building a stronger online community. By letting his fans track where he is, they feel more connected to him and more passionate about the cause. In a Kathy Sierra kind of way, Twitter allows Edwards's fans to have an "I Rule!" moment where they can amaze all their friends by saying things like "Actually, John was in San Antonio just a few days ago — he hasn't forgotten Texas!".

As an aside, it's fascinating to see how "online" politics and election campaigns are going. As always, the U.S. leads the pack, but I'm looking forward to how the Canadian political parties (my main interest!) do in the next election. Going "online" seems to help solidify your base, but not necessarily grow it; it's a bit like preaching to the choir. People tend to subscribe to the blogs they're interested in and agree with, not the ones they don't agree with. While everyone is declaring the fall of traditional media, I suspect there is still a place for it because traditional media, like it or not, tends to be a bit more unbiased than the blogosphere, even if only barely so.

Tagged edwards, faux news, fox news, i rule, media, politics, and twitter.
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