Online communication platforms have been growing in power for a long time. According to MSNBC, Facebook had 750 million users as of May 2011. Twitter had 200 million users as of March 2011, according to the BBC. There is influence to be found in these sites.
Having influenced the direction of many industries, politics has not been ignored. ABC News reports stat that over 1 million users signed up to the 'US Politics' Facebook application in order to take part. An article by Michelle Sullivan of Uwire.com illustrates how the application affected youth voting rates.
Many cite cyber-politics as a positive. They increase voting numbers, encourage voter-orientated campaigning by allowing for voter-feedback and encourage political involvement in general.
"Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee," said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post.
But cyber-politics has its dark side. Like all other aspects of politics, corruption is sinking in.
Newton Gingrich, the 58th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, announced in May 2011 that he will seek the Republican nomination to run for the White House. In 1995, Time magazine named him "Man of the Year" for his role in leading the Republican Revolution in the House, ending 40 years of the Democratic Party being in the majority.
On 31 Aug 2011, Newt Gingrich laid out a new argument for why he should be the GOP presidential nominee: He's got the most Twitter followers.
Gingrich appears to be winning in the Twitter polls. However, a recent leak from one of Gingrich's former staffers alleged that he hired a firm to boost his Twitter following: 'Newt employs a variety of agencies whose sole purpose is to procure Twitter followers for people who are shallow/insecure/unpopular enough to pay for them.'
Given social networking's huge influence on politics, such activities should be regarded as fraud. Despite our keen optimism about humans' ability to think individually and make up their minds on who they should vote for, many people follow the pack.
It is plausible to assume that having a large amount of Twitter followers will encourage people to vote for a politician.
Although a lot of internet-related legislation tends to compromise on individual freedom, implementing laws on this issue could work for personal freedom.
The USA needs to make this practice illegal. Until it does so, corrupt politicians and their hired PR firms will continue to inject distortion into American elections - compromising democracy and the political system as a whole.