Karl Rove’s resignation, and other social media news
August 20th, 2007 by Hugh KennedyAlthough I try not to bring politics to the workplace (it’s still a bit too volatile, even in Cambridge), I thought Frank Rich had an interesting point about Karl Rove’s resignation in yesterday’s New York Times.
The piece, entitled He Got Out While the Getting Was Good, notes that Rove’s style — tightly controlled, top-down messages that are centrally managed — effective as it was in 2002, is hopelessly out of date in 2007, with the rise of You Tube and other social media outlets.
To quote Rich, “A year [after George Allen's 'macaca' incident], leading Republicans are still clueless and panicked about this new medium, which is why they, unlike their Democratic counterparts, pulled out of even a tightly controlled CNN-YouTube debate. It took smart young conservative bloggers like a former Republican National Committee operative, Patrick Ruffini, to shame them into reinstating the debate for November, lest the entire G.O.P. field look as pathetically out of touch as it is.”
Whatever you think about Rich or Rove, what’s interesting is how quickly web journalists and content distribution have upended the age-old centrism and control structure in a government. The same is increasingly true for corporations. If you think you can control your message from above in an age of social media, you, too, may soon be announcing that you’re leaving your post to spend more time with your children.