Ballot talks: Politics and social media

Guests: Bruce Hardy, Ken Winneg and Nicholas Carr

When a presidential candidate makes a controversial statement or faux pas, we no longer have to wait for the paper to arrive the next day with commentary and analysis. These days Twitter and other social media networks feed us a steady, sometimes overwhelming, stream of opinions, memes and GIFs that often poke fun at politicians and sometimes tell us what they really think. All that information can shape our opinions and the way we see the candidates in real time. Republican candidate Donald Trump has even used his Twitter account as a major campaign platform to attack opponents and promote himself in 140-characters. To talk about the role social media is playing in politics we’ll be joined by Temple University’s BRUCE HARDY and by KEN WINNEG, from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. And we’ll discuss how social media represents the third media revolution in modern campaigning with NICHOLAS CARR, the author of several books on technology and culture and a contributor to Politico, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.