A new way politicians are communicating (or spinning?) to the public is Facebook. This interactive, social tool is different from communicating via television or radio, where there is only one way communication, with little or no feedback from the audience. Usually political communications in the form of tv and radio don't cater to niche audience, but communicate messages designed to appeal to the masses.
Political communications via Facebook has changed this.
Looking at Obama's Facebook page, one can clearly see this.
His 'notes' to the followers of his page are personal, as if he is talking to close friends.
One note reads;
"I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack"
The social nature of Facebook allows for this more personal tone, as Barack is 'friends' with the followers of his page. Enthusiastic individuals write comments on this note allowing for two way communications.
Whether Obama himself writes these notes or not is subject to speculation ( I highly doubt that he doesn't have communications people and speech writers comb through all of the text). But what communicating this way does do, is allow for indiviuals to think that they have a more personal relationship with the President of the United States, as well as portray Obama as a net savy, hip, approachable and friendly 'guy', as opposed to one of the most powerful men in the world.
Facebook has thus become an extremely useful tool for image creation and the dissemination of key messages in political communications.
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