My friend Lucian Despoiu is a very smart guy: he’s an entrepreneur and a digital political consultant, and he’s worked on campaigns in more countries than I’ve even visited. He gave the presentation below at a recent TEDx event in Bucharest, and it is absolutely worth your time to watch. He starts by looking at the rise of Facebook as an example of the speed with which our technological world is changing our cultural and economic one, with politics surely following along fast.
One key point? Social media is OUR revolution, and not just because it’s happening while we’re alive — what we do online is what’s powering it. And as professional online communicators, we have a particular responsibility for nurturing that revolution. What will happen with this new digital power aligns with more-traditional forms of political power? Lucian’s answer is “real-time politics,” and watch the video to see what he means — though I bet the process will be as messy as human history usually is. Watch the video and see what you think, and BTW, dig the velvet jacket…that sucker rocks!
– cpd