It is undeniable that social media is starting to become a vital tool in a successful political campaign and the 2012 campaign is really off to a flying (pun intended) start on Twitter! Every candidate in fact has a presence on the social media platform with varying a varying number of followers. In fact many are using their Twitter account to promote their presence on other social media platforms such as Herman Cain's tweet above. Each candidate is being drawn into the Twittersphere because in today's era, even when the debate isn't being scheduled in advance with weeks of preparation, the conversation continues 24/7 online between the candidates as well as among the potential voters. A great example of this is the Tweet from Rick Perry about Romney's flip on the issue of man-made global warming. How can Romney respond without a presence on Twitter? Times are changing and so are campaigns.... for the better.
Twitter is not just a tool for campaigns in the political world. It is also a platform for discussion about issues. One such issue that I looked at in this course was media bias. Below you can see various tweets from journalists, organizations, and commentators about this issue. 
Twitter is a unique tool because where many social media platforms are tight networks such as Facebook, Twitter is a "wide open for anybody to engage" tool that allows for the most free and broad discussions. It is also a tool of the masses. One person can communicate to millions and therefore receive feedback from millions. Those millions can communicate to theirs thousands or millions and the message spreads like fire. That is of course assuming the message is worth spreading.
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