Social Media, Mediasite, and Politics

The UNLEASH 2012 International Conference was held in Madison, Wisconsin May 7-9th, bringing Mediasite experts and end users  together.  I had the opportunity to present a keynote address entitled, "Social Media, Mediasite, and Politics."  The presentation explained how social media has influenced and reinforced political viewpoints since February of 2011.  Attendees present at the  the conference, and on-line were from throughout the United States, Japan, Netherlands, Australia, and many other countries. The event brings a wide diversity of web streaming experts, technical, and practioners together.

This presentation provided a wide variety of examples of video journalism, social media, and CNN iReporting. The research study was conducted for over a 14 month period and looked into how social media can:

motivate and engage “the Base”
accelerate the speed of dissemination
disseminate fact or fiction
affect attribution of the author
reinforce, influence, or change opinion
make learning more relevant and authentic


During the session, attendees were virtually transported from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Madison and throughout the globe merely through the mechanism of effective and timely social media. Attendees were challenged to engage themselves in both sides of an issues by checking multiple and conflicting points of view.  With mainstream media and social media, people must work much more diligently to determine what is fact vs. fiction. When "social media is history in real time" you must be fully engaged with the message and how it is communicated to you.