Social Media & Politics: Twitter

The use of Twitters has widely grown, like it's competition Facebook, into a more evolved network of information instead of the original use of sole social interaction. Now that Twitter has began taking over the internet usage politicians are jumping on board and targeting the younger audiences for the vote. How could this change the way politics are seen in the eyes of America? Simple, the more information and technology out there the more likely skeletons deep in their closets are likely to come out.

We all remember the Anthony Weiner story several years ago, but you may not have heard about a more recent, less spread scandal.

Tennessee Democrat Stephen Cohen revealed he had a 24 year old daughter through Twitter. However this was not a normal reveal, Cohen apparently had not known about his daughter until roughly 3 years ago and instead of welcoming her into his political campaigns and possibly boosting or harming his image he hid her. After Tweeting to his daughter he then deleted the messages to cover his tracks.

These Tweets were of course later leaked and his "scandal" revealed. This may not be a big a deal as the Weiner case, but it is still detrimental to Cohen's campaign. Now thanks to social media the US voters know about his daughter and although he was in the dark about her existence until a few years ago he will not be seen as the man who is ashamed of showing his daughter to the public. Viewers of this scandal will not focus on what his Tweets to his daughter said but just the fact that he deleted them, thus making this a "scandal". Cohen has no other children and is not married so his opponents can't play on adultery as a target to take him down, however they can accuse him of neglect for this daughter and easily persuade the viewers to see him as an abandoner regardless of the fact he had no idea he had a daughter until she was in her 20s.

Look at this story here and see what The Washington Post thinks of this new event:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/02/14/memphis-congressman-deleted-state-of-the-union-tweets-went-to-daughter/

Claiming his daughter was another friends child also doesn't help Cohen's case and provides even more ammunition to his opponents in the future.