The Advance of Politics & Technology: Part One

The way we watch and understand politics is changing dramatically. Recently, the UK General Election was initially a showdown of which network had the most impressive graphics.

The shift of how we understand politics was also seen in the recent ‘Leader’s Debate’, where all three leaders from the main parties explained their policies, before ripping each others to shreds. This was the first time such an event had taken place, and is therefore a historical moment in our political agenda.

With people now able to stream live content to handheld devices, it is almost impossible to avoid the hefty news topics of the day. Even if you aren’t watching a news broadcast or reading a newspaper, there will be someone tweeting or updating a Facebook status which clearly identifies something that has happened in the world of news.

This is the same as the development in politics. Barack Obama now has a YouTube channel which broadcasts his messages to an instant, worldwide audience. We aren’t quite seeing this in the UK yet, however a lot of people are beginning to follow senior politicians on Twitter, with every update possibly explaining what is going on within the brick walls of Parliament.

The audiences of the leaders debate showed a renewed interest in this dawning age of politics. With figures reaching as high as 9.9 million during peak times, the audience is clearly ready to listen to what the country needs. Gone is the age of leaflets making a huge difference – the main targets are now accessible through a wide range of digital mediums, including television and the Internet.

Not that this is a bad thing. The switch of news to a digital format is one that has been threatening for years, and with so many people ready to read content online, there has never been a better time to shift the focus. As well as offering the reader the same content you can read in a newspaper, offerings of videos and instant photographs makes it a lot more appealing.

One thing is for sure; the high viewing figures and record voting turn-outs it partially down to the advance of political communication through digital communication…

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