Democracy and Social Media are very important to me. And they actually have a lot of connections. Two recent thoughts of others have motivated me to discuss this on my blog:

In my interview with Cathryn Wellner she made an interesting point on Social Media and Democracy

A quote by Brian Solis in his Book “Engage”

Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers

Events like the “Arab Spring” have shown the impact Social Media Platforms like Twitter and Facebook can have on developments in our societies. But the so called “Social Media Revolution” has an impact on our lives close to home as well. Suddenly unknown candidates in elections have a voice. Owning or controlling a broadcasting network doesn’t automatically mean you control the message that citizens receive.

I will write a separate blog post on the impact Social Media has on the News Media but right now I am very impressed to see the impact of Social Media even in our current local election.

In October I was at an event where CBC Vancouver filmed a session of Q with Jian Gomeshi @jiangomeshi. Jian had invited a great Media Panel to discuss the impact of Social Media Watch the whole show here.

As you can see I was sitting in the audience listening to this very interesting discussion. I can only share a few minutes but I was very fascinated bu the panelist’s insight.

Panelists were:

• Alfred Hermida @Hermida
• Tara Mahoney @genwhymedia
• Ian Hanomancing @CBCIan
• Frances Bula @fabulavancouver

I invite you to watch my 5 minute Clip and would love to hear your opinions.

Do you think Social Media is changing the way our democracies work?