I've argued before that the changes social media brings about goes much deeper than just changing the outlook of the media landscape. Social media is fundamentally changing the structure of public discourse, something that is becoming more and more apparent in the political world. In addition to the increasing number of politicians who are now blogging and/or using social media as a marketing tool or to combat voter apathy, the new tools of communications are also changing the rules of engagement, as this interesting article from the Washington Post tries to analyse:

"At first glance, three uproars that buffeted American politics in recent weeks have little in common.... Cumulatively, the stories highlight a new brand of politics in which nearly any revelation in the news becomes a weapon or shield in the daily partisan wars, and the aim of candidates and their operatives is not so much to win an argument as to brand opponents as fundamentally unfit."

Another interesting development in this connection, is the recent deal between Al Gore and Murdoch to bring Current TV's citizen journalism concept to the UK. I'm not a fan of Al Gore, but think he is spot on when describing how social media changes the playing field in this fascinating interview transcript. Link via Wordblog