Politics and social networks

Fascinating article in the NY Times today about the way younger people are swapping news among themselves:

According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one.

This trend away from gatekeepers and towards social networks is not a new idea, of course, but the importance of the Times piece is perhaps the extent to which it has already happened - and the extent to which it is driving engagement. The piece makes the point that the Democrat nomination race has attracted a lot of attention among young people, and it is perhaps dangerous to see the present, unique, political moment as the start of a long-term shift. But it's also true that in Britain the reemergence of the right wing has seen the start of a similar movement, albeit on a smaller scale, led by successful right-wing bloggers. And for news organisations, here's the money quote:

Ms. Buckingham recalled conducting a focus group where one of her subjects, a college student, said, “If the news is that important, it will find me.”