A Millennial Makeover

Millenial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, by Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais, posits that the digital age has brought about a turning point in American politics.  In an excerpt featured in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the authors note that, while on the surface, political shifts have been marked by landmark sociopolitical events (.g. The Great Depression), the underlying forces remain changes in "generational size and attitudes and contemporaneous advances in communication technology."

The Internet age embodies nothing if not both of these mechanisms.  Referred to as "Millennials" in the book, and digital natives in other contexts, those who came of age in a networked world manifest a different set of beliefs and values than their parents.  "[As the generation] moves into positions of power and influence in society, the new generation demands that the nation's institutes change ..."  The explosion of Internet campaign tactics is, thus, but a manifestation of a changing tide in ideology and, eventually, infrastructure.  It is clear that regardless of whether MySpace and YouTube remain on the "It" website radar, campaigning has entered a new age where connectivity is the name of the game.