State of the Union and New Social Media

Howard Mortman discusses the role of social media during the State of the Union Address. He says the new social media sites like Facebook and Twitter help representatives spread their opinion and reaction to the State of the Union. It was actually this year that Senators and House Representatives were allowed to “tweet” during the State of the Union and CSPAN compiled all of the “tweets” and put them on their website. The goal of this was to show the audience the opinion of the representatives and update them about developments as soon as they happen. It also lets the audience share their own opinion regarding the State of the Union. Mortman said that it creates a “two-way conversation.”