"The revolution will not be tweeted"

A short note in light of this discussion about the potential for the Internet to mobilize political participation. For some light reading on the subject, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a really interesting piece in the New Yorker, more anecdotal than Schlozman, Verba and Brady, but similarly expressing doubt in the ability of the Internet to revolutionize political participation and action.

Comparing contemporary forms of what might be considered social or political action to activism during the Civil Rights Era, Gladwell explains,

"Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires...In other words, Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice. We are a long way from the lunch counters of Greensboro."

But as Scholzman et al. note, this phenomena of Internet politics is new, under-researched and its future is relatively unpredictable.