After interviewing over 10 of Mayor Bookers Facebook fans, I realized that the discussion of what effect social media has on politics should be replaced by the conversation of how social media platforms are replacing television and newspapers as go to sources of information. The idea that web 2.0 is a participatory/dialogic revolution is true to an extent, but in the end, judging from my interviews, it seems that it really leans more to the side of being a glorified broadcast platform.
Those respondents under the age of 30 or those working jobs with a computer in front of view Booker’s use of Facebook as valuable to them. They believe that it gives them an inside look into what the Mayor is doing/thinking on daily basis. It helps them stay up on what is happening in the city and what some of the current issues are. Additionally, these respondents mentioned that since they were already on Facebook a lot, the FB platform was a convenient way to stay informed.
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