Social media are revolutionizing and galvanizing politics in the United States and around the world. Old modes and methods of political communication from elites to the masses (top down) and from the masses to elites (bottom up) are being displaced rapidly by new social media, and activists are building new movements and protests using social media to alter mainstream political agendas. Politicians and candidates are joining the fray, now using social media to maintain their visibility to constituencies and build support. One of the new essentials for campaign professionals is articulation of the candidate’s “social media strategy.” Members of Congress now routinely turn to Twitter to spar with partisan opponents or broadcast messages to constituents, and use YouTube to post their latest campaign advertisements. And in the realm of unintended consequences occasionally a politician’s use of social media undermines his/her own credibility (former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.). The power of social media in politics is not just a U.S. phenomenon. In the popular uprisings triggered by the Arab Spring social media have played an enormous part in the organizing of protests and keeping dissident voices from being completely stifled by repressive regimes, despite attempts by those regimes to restrict access to the Internet and social media platforms or technologies: “The Syrian government is cracking down on protesters’ use of social media and the Internet to promote their rebellion just three months after allowing citizens to have open access to Facebook and YouTube…dissidents have been working with exiles and using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to draw global attention to the brutal military crackdown.… The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, which now has more than 180,000 members, has been a vital source of information for dissidents.” (New York Times) In Tunisia and in Egypt social media also played a vital role in organizing and sustaining the popular demonstrations that helped topple authoritarian regimes. Some commentators have compared the phenomenon to the impact of late eighteenth century pamphlets that fueled the American and French Revolutions.

The Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics will explore how the rise of social media is altering politics both in the United States and in key moments, movement, and places around the world. Its scope encompasses the disruptive technologies and activities that are changing basic patterns in American politics, and the amazing transformations that social media use is rendering in other political systems heretofore resistant to democratization and change. This two-volume A to Z encyclopedia set will serve as a general, non-technical resource for students and researchers to understand the importance of how changes in social networking through social media are affecting politics, both in the United States and in selected countries or regions.