Racism in America. It is a topic about which there is, seemingly, never-ending fascination, discussion and opinion. But when one adds to that a provocative cocktail mix of politics over technology and stirs; what bubbles up is a powerful and frothy concoction of social discussion. Such is the case regarding a recently released Harvard study by Ph.D. candidate Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. The provocative study utilized the search giant Google to analyze how the usage of racial epithets affected the 2008 presidential race. Stephens-Davidowitz’s findings concluded that “prejudice cost President Barack Obama between 3.1 percentage points and 5 percentage points of the national popular vote,” even though he won the presidency over Senator John McCain.
From the findings, one might be led to believe that the percentage of voters whose decisions were influenced by race may deeply affect Obama’s fight to stay in office for a second term. But what the study, though compelling, does not answer for us is what is this new phenomenon of “comment culture,” what is behind the behavior of those who participate, and how can we use such an arena to not only help us understand ourselves and others better but possibly predict future behavior by analyzing digital comments in real-time. These are some of the most important questions we can ask ourselves today.
Many people and news sites have previously held little regard for the comment section. In fact a popular media news/gossip site has announced that it will soon disable its comment section in favor of allowing just a hand-picked, select few to comment on posts. Such an approach would seem to be indicative of 20th Century thinking for what we are witnessing is the rise of the individual. Suppress it if you try, but it will just appear in an another format.
I began to understand this as I researched my book Rise of the SmartPower Class: navigating the new digital, leaderful era. I re-defined the little-used international government relations term of smart power to now mean a specific and growing tribe of young neo-humans who are are self-determinant, socially conscious and use tech extensions to explore and express the creation of a truly new socio-political power dynamic. And I decided to look first at the digital comment section in order to research my hypotheses.
While looking at the comments and interviewing various experts in social behavior, I particularly learned that the new phenomenon of “dis-inhibition” is exhibited over and over again in the digital arena. Dis-inhibition is the apparent reduction in concern for others. When we exhibit this style of behavior, we hide behind perceived anonymity and are not concerned about the judgment of others at that point. It’s important to note, however, that dis-inhibition can make for a very pure transfer of thought or simply exhibit the display of a virtual trying-on of identity.
The behavior is fascinating to track because particularly in the case of the Harvard study as well as my own within my book, we understand that we are in no way comfortably seated at a post-racial America table at all, but rather an America which is simply in the midst of examining race from a digi-socio perspective. But naturally not only race, but other key categories can and should observed.
In fact, It is my position that political candidates should develop systems to seamlessly “listen” and analyze the digital space in real time to better forecast future developments, particularly when it comes to the 2012 election and beyond. Corporations can hugely benefit from this approach as well. Why? Because society, overall, is going through an “update” of sorts. There is a mindset shift, and much of it can be viewed across the interplay of digital comments. Fewer and fewer people seem willing to be just led any more. Almost every element is questioned, challenged; particularly when it relates to political figures. And the thought is moving all at once through various strains. There is no more tipping point as in Malcolm Gladwell’s 20th Century view. Now, everyone is beginning to view him or herself as a leader, we’re full of leaders; therefore leaderful. And it’s exhibited over digital platforms, most notably and frequently accessed via mobile devices; and evidenced in actions from the Arab Spring, to Occupy to the Bank of America $5 debit card charge backlash and more.
Simultaneously, the general population seems to be moving further from sole reliance upon traditional information sources to that of a mix of trusted peer-to-peer exchange and certain traditional sources. Thus, it just may be time for less old-school polls and more SmartPower interaction. This is what I have found as I have continued the conversation from my book onto www.glassldc.com. There is often times a markedly different view than what a politico or brand might think is conveyed versus what the public actually thinks. Unlike the Harvard study, though, we are analyzing comments across a number of categories daily in real-time. Though in beta form, my team and I are and painstakingly sifting through comments like archaeologists do on a sacred site. What is found, is fascinating.
In conclusion, my hope is that all types of organizations, but particularly the 2012 election campaign camps, include those with better expertise in digital monitoring/researching and cultural analysis to examine, for example, the candidate’s performance across it from day-to-day, week-to-week and critique. The media’s political coverage could also include not only its own such comment analysis but also evaluate political candidates’ usage of tech platforms, overall, in order to make the coverage more comprehensive and relevant. Otherwise, the danger is working furiously in the dark, out-of-touch and possibly suffering great loss by doing so because there is a new digital class battling out a new system of values and power. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Lauren DeLisa Coleman is a socio-economic digitalist and emerging/mobile tech consultant. Follow Lauren on Twitter at @mediaempress and find her online at www.ldcoleman.com or www.glassldc.com.