Weiner's Use of Media for Both Political Momentum and Exploitation

In a previous post I discussed the present scandal revolving around congressman Anthony Weiner and how the media blew up the scandal. However, media contributed to the uproar of the scandal in more ways than one. Social media, in this case twitter, is now being a main focus in the scandal because it allowed something like this to happen. An article by the Huffington Post discusses what Weiners media strategy is to gain his popularity back, but also brings up how using these sources like twitter and Facebook can be dangerous in terms of our private information that we ‘accidently’ send out there. There is almost too much room for making mistakes when posting things on the Internet and because powerful people such as politicians and celebrities have been using these outlets more frequently, the social media outlets have been forced to change how they operate.

The article mentions that Weiner was quite ‘media-savvy’ and still managed to make such a drastic mistake. He often used social media sources for advances in his political career. “For the past year, Weiner has taken to the social networking site Twitter to crack jokes and needle Republicans on policy matters. While many members of Congress use Twitter to discuss pending legislation and upcoming appearances in their districts, Weiner has used it to connect with a wider online audience and further burnish his reputation as a champion of liberal causes.” It’s probable to believe that Weiner may have brought this upon himself, clearly using social media outlets in an unprofessional manner in the past. So while Twitter could have more restrictions and privacy rules, people like Weiner may continue find ways to use the site as an inappropriate forum.

While I don’t agree with the media blowing up the scandal, I myself don’t understand why Weiner would use twitter to send a photo of his privates instead of basic email. Something so public and virtual shouldn’t be used in this way and I would think a politician in our congress would have been smart enough to know so. 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/04/anthony-weiner-twitter-photo_n_871279.html