Social media pushes boundaries in political discussion

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Purdue professor and Associate Head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication Glenn Sparks said using social media is now just part of everyday life. When it comes to trending topics, Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are the center of attention.

"Everybody is a part, in this case, of the political campaign and they're following everything that's going on," Sparks said.

Evidence can be found in a simple comment made by Romney about his efforts to recruit women for his Cabinet.

"While the debate was going on somebody started a Twitter account called 'Binders Full of Women'," Sparks said. "The Facebook group 'Binders Full of Women' was created and had 36,000 likes before the debate was even over. That really is a new phenomenon."

Voters aren't the only ones using social media. Political science professor Jay McCann said the candidates themselves find it to be a useful tool.

"It can be used for instantaneous reactions to something an opposition candidate might say," McCann said.  "It's used for all kinds of clarifications. We have even 'prebuttals' as opposed to rebuttals through social networks."

With millions of people using sites like Facebook and Twitter every day, candidates are under a watchful eye.

"Whatever anonymity might have been there is gone, and in the debates you almost get a 360-degree view of the candidates," McCann said.

In addition to social media another form of technology is following the candidates' every move, literally. College of Health and Human Sciences assistant professor Chris Kowal uses a program to determine emotion by mapping the movement of facial muscles.

Kowal said in the second debate President Obama showed a wider range of intense emotions. Gov. Romney, on the other hand, did not.

"There was a lot more neutral emotional expression this time around and at times it looked like he was even uncomfortable with the format," Kowal said about Romney.

Some experts say technology that can pinpoint candidates' emotions and the use of social media is changing the political game.

"Politics is about communication and so as our technology and our devices change the nature of politics changes to an extent, so stay tuned we haven't seen the last of this," McCann said.