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Many people say that politics never changes. But, in recent years, politics have changed quite a bit due to the introduction and popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. These sites have not only become a great way for people to keep up with friends and family, but have also become an important communication tool for all sorts of subjects – including politics.

There are two primary ways that Twitter and Facebook are used to in politics:

1. Communication from politicians – President Barack Obama has made this pretty famous. During his campaign, he garnered much of his vote through online venues. His message, his agenda and even his schedule of speaking engagements was easily found by anyone who followed him on Twitter or Facebook. Today, you can follow the tweets of many of your favorite politicians. Twitter and Facebook are great venues for politicians to keep their constituents and supporters informed on their decisions, their agendas and other important political news. It has changed the face of political communication because it allows politicians to easily communicate. It also allows them to control the spin on their news without the media’s involvement. In a political world dominated by media spin; this direct communication is powerful for politicians.

The popularity of Facebook and Twitter have also brought change to the cost of political campaigning. Using Facebook and Twitter are also a virtually free way to interact with others. Though many politicians run ad campaigns on Facebook and other social media sites, some of the most popular activities, like friending someone and sending out tweets are absolutely free. Could this be the way to reversing the inordinate amounts of money spent on political campaigns in this country?

1. Groups of common political interest. The best example of how Twitter and Facebook have contributed to the forming of political groups of common interest is the Tea Party Movement. This group, who is protesting current policies and lobbying for smaller government, lower taxes and a conservative view of the constitution, has used Twitter and Facebook extensively to broadcast their message and gain supporters. This group’s single most effective tool for mobilization has been Facebook. They were able to successfully organize separate protests in more than 200 cities on April 15, 2009, for their Tax Day event.

While it’s certain that social media sites have been successful in spreading political messages, it’s just as certain that this is only the beginning of how significant these forums will be in politics. There are some downsides, however, that the sites themselves will have to deal with. For example, there are lots of “spam” pages on Facebook and Twitter, which aren’t true users. These pages and faux users erroneously inflate the numbers of true users/constituents/voters. This is sure to be a problem for politicians in the long run.

As the forums evolve and more people begin to use them for agendas other than keeping up with friends and family, they are likely to take an even bigger role in our political agendas. Can you envision the day when we vote via Facebook or tweet our concerns to our congressmen?

Phyl Zerkle blogs about why you should consider enrolling in masters in public policy programs.

Whenever we hear the word POLITICS, what usually comes to our minds are the images of politicians and their policies.  Others think of dirty tricks and corruption as they are linked to politics.  The right definition seemed to have been lost by those representations that don’t tend to pinpoint exactly the true essence of politics.  A systematic approach is required to finally make an attempt to define what politics really is.  We will consider a brief overview of the term to begin with and to understand the origin of this word.

The term POLITICS comes from the Greek word “polis” which means the state or the community as a whole.  The concept of “polis” was an ideal state.  It came from great political thinkers’ writings such as that of Aristotle and Plato.  Plato describes what the ideal state is and the means to be able to achieve it in his novel “The Republic”.  Politics originally has connotations in the ways to create the ideal society.  The ideal society here is a difficult aim to achieve.  It implies measures which should be implemented so to create a society that is better than the present.  When Aristotle and Plato saw the imperfections in our society, they are prompted to write their philosophies about our politics.  And so these provides the very first written politics recognition.