Practicum #3- Julia

Joanne Babcock - my alternative online identity - has begun using Twitter! For my practicum project, I have created an online identity for someone interested in learning more about the Tea Party movement. Within a few weeks, I've discovered how easy it really is to get involved with this grassroots political movement, simply by spending a few hours on the internet. Joanne uses Facebook, Twitter, and the Ohio Tea Party movement's very own social networking site in order to gain info about events and ideologies of the Tea Party. She also uses these social networking tools to learn about upcoming events in her area.

One thing that really stood out to me in my creation of Joanne's Twitter account, in particular, is the fact that she can completely tailor her news to fit her own personal agenda. This is a concept I've learned about in other Com Arts and journalism class, and now I'm really able to see it in action. I chose (well, Joanne chose) to follow dozens of Tea Party tweeters, conservative bloggers, and conservative news outlets such as Fox News and the O'Reilly Factor. In Joanne's world, the government is totally corrupt because of Barack Obama, Sarah Palin is a goddess, and the Tea Party is America's ticket to freedom. Although I have specifically chosen to follow these tweeters for obvious reasons, (because I want to know how the Tea Party uses social media, and understand how the supporters experience it) I think it's important to realize how individualized the mass media has become. I couldn't help but compare Joanne's twitter page to my own, which is filled with more liberally-inclined tweeters and entertainment news, and realize that we both experience very different views of the world.