The early members of the G.I. generation harnessed the power of radio for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The early Baby Boomers brought the impact of visual images into politics by embracing television. Both of them used new technology to deepen the collective American community by employing their ability to draw people of all backgrounds, all sexes, and all ages together to experience the same simulation of the same senses simultaneously.

Huge cultural, political, and generational shifts accompanied both of these innovations, and the increasing integration of government and the Internet is demonstrating strong signs of this historical pattern as well.

Yet again, a dawn of technological innovation.

CNN and Facebook first joined forces for Obama’s much anticipated Inaugural Address by enabling viewers to watch the speech streaming live over the Internet and interact with each other at the same time. Participants could react and express, in real time (or nearly real time, as Internet stream usually lags behind TV by at least a few seconds), their responses to Obama’s words and to each other’s comments.

The CNN reporters and the staff at Facebook Headquarters tracked what people were saying, the spikes and slow-downs in postings, as they correlated with particular segments of the speech, and what attitudes were most repeated. This data was then used to sketch a vague outline of participant opinion, which was reported on CNN across the country.

Facebook’s membership demographics are rapidly changing and can no longer be assumed to represent the youth opinion alone. The oldest of the Millennial generation (18-25 year olds) still make up 43% of Facebook members, but almost 45% active users are now over 26. The second largest age group is the 26-34 year olds, born on the cusp of the Millennial generation.

This cohort currently makes up 23% of the total Facebook population, but they are also the fastest growing age group. Thus, while 78% of the 45.3 million active on the site are below 34 years of age, the CNN Live/Facebook conversations are not necessarily slanted heavily toward representing Millennials.

It is important to reflect on the history of Internet-based communication. Millennials are the first generation who don’t remember an era without cyberspace. They EXPECT to be able to instantly communicate their opinions with each other and to whomever they want, anywhere and at any time. And it is not a sense of entitlement or self-importance, as some would have you believe, it is their experience that informs them this is possible.

As they grew older and began entering adulthood, Millennials perceived the normality of immediate and open interaction. This trend was noticed, discussed, and even studied. The steadily aging Baby Boom politicians started to realize that this new form of rapid communication could potentially be used to reach new generation of voters and get them to mobilize their online networks. Exploration of the possibilities began.

Enter Howard Dean. The Vermont Governor’s 2000 primary campaign and its dramatic introduction of online fundraising gave Americans their first glimpse of the Internet’s true potential within the political sphere. Although Dean’s bid for the Democratic nomination ultimately came to a screeching (yeee-haaawww-ing?) halt, his innovation earned him a place in history. Without the knowledge Dean and the political world gained from that experience, Obama’s 2008 presidential bid may have looked very different.

This rising generation of Americans has continued to integrate nearly all-consuming connection with their friends into every new chapter and venture of their lives. Slowly, and usually reluctantly, many middle-age and older Americans have ventured beyond email and into other new Web channels to reach colleagues, high school sweethearts, and old military buds.

Returning to the President’s quasi-State of the Union and results from Facebook’s headquarters, the social networking site has yet to release the number of status updates and posts in the CNN/Facebook chat room throughout the evening, but it has been reported that 150,000 were made during President Obama’s State of the Nation address to Congress.

Facebook user participation last January 20 still dwarfs last Tuesday’s activity. There was an average of 4,000 status updates every minute during the broadcast of Obama’s inauguration, and as it was nearly an all-day event ultimately cumulating in a total of over 2 million total throughout the festivities.

It was only when the live video stream moved to footage of the House floor awaiting the president’s arrival that comments finally focused on the broadcast. The first identifiable theme in the conversation was regarding the outfits, appearance of, and interaction between recognizable politicians.

8:50pm

Cameron D. Burley Anybody see McCain’s buggar?? Somebody shoulda told him about HD!

9:04pm

Betty Parker Ellis (Greenville, SC) is happy that SCJ Ruth Bader Ginsburg is able to attend.

9:05pm

Tara Watts (Boston, MA) Michelle looks wonderful. She is so classy!

Molly James (Houston, TX) likes that Michelle wore her royal purple dress.

Leslie Nerisse Damaso thinks Michelle looks great in purple!

Kandee Cooks (Raleigh / Durham, NC) Michelle looks beautiful! Work it my sista from the South Side!

9:08pm

Tzynya L. Pinchback is always thrilled to see Hillary…I like a broad with balls!

Lenny Parker Man Hillary does stand out doesn’t she. Looks nice though.

Vicente Crooks (Los Angeles, CA) can’t believe I know everyone in the cabinet!!

6:14-6:16pm

Chris Behrendt is lol they just keep clapping and obama’s kinda just like thank you but they keep clapping!

Gina Barriga (Phoenix, AZ) liked his little wink to Hillary.

Vinnie Tareno that was nice to see him and Hillary, very nice.

Nader Hattar (United Arab Emirates) is wondering if they’re ever gonna stop clapping.

The CNN/Facebook forum was almost indistinguishable from 1990s style chat rooms that led to the labeling of anonymous internet interaction as dangerous. Warnings such as, “Don’t give out your phone number or address” and “Don’t EVER tell anyone on the Internet, even if you think you know them, your full name,” were preached as frequently as the D.A.R.E. program’s slogan, “just say NO to drugs.” The forum was chaotic, full of meaningless and often offensive comments and usually had no comprehensible theme.

As the speech drew closer comments began to focus more on the streaming CNN broadcast, particularly trafficked when CNN iReporter spoke to the news anchor about the value of education in today’s job market.

Interaction between Facebook commenters and the moment-to-moment action of the event settled down when President Obama began to speak, kicking off a more suddenly organized and purposeful chat room. It is the analysis of this conversation that provides the basis of an even larger investigation. Could open forums such as this enhance America’s democracy and increase citizen participation and involvement?

Until November 5, 2008, the new forms of online interaction and collaboration with politicians were focused more exclusively on campaigns, but President Obama may have different ideas about incorporating his Web vision into actual governance.

On the Obama for America campaign Website, open forums existed to share experiences from the campaign, suggest directions or strategies on specific issues and even to complain about disagreements. The first weeks of his presidency marked the unveiling of a new White House Website that is trying to keep such engagement apace.

Obama has created a new Office of Public Liaison, overseen by Valerie Jarrett and directed by Tina Tchen, which he describes on the site as “the front door to the White House, through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the president.”

While the CNN Live/Facebook experiment was unprecedented, so were FDR’s Fireside Chats and JFK’s use of television as novel modes of communication with the public. The American government has always claimed to be a body designed “by the people, for the people.” This ideal is unachievable unless a constituent can communicate with the politicians who represent them easily and as frequently as desired.

Anything that makes this dialogue faster, including technological advances, has the potential to bring us closer to the nation’s original ideal. Even so, democracy will not progress unless such tools are used appropriately.

Never before in history has something allowed people doing so many different things in so many different places to engage in a political discussion with each other simultaneously (a day in the life of generational multi-taskers). Dyan Edwards-Cagley, at one point posted that she “just did home surgery on her dog while trying to listen to the Prez on TV.” Ryan Hernandez was “in class right now and can’t get caught watching this.”

Greg R. Fishborne was “watching his daughter deliver a State of the Living Room address” while Danielle Bessett was “stuck at the office and clapping to herself,” and Becca Habegger was “sitting in her car outside IHOP, waiting for free pancakes, picking up their WiFi signal, and watching Obama live on CNN.com.”

The evolution of political interaction between politicians and their constituents in America tells the story of the nation’s democracy two-hundred twenty-three years after independence. The nation has seen transient eras of both great citizen activism and apathy, and these occur for many different and complicated reasons. But history reflects that the nature of technology always influences these ebbs and flows.

One thing is certain: technology is taking the White House and Uncle Sam by storm. The fact that, as Anne Punohu pointed out, “We have a president who knows what a blackberry is,” has made that fact irreversible. The good news is, as Jason Vincik said, “Technology has made politics fun.”

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