Benjamin Krueger, a Lecturer in the School of Communication at NAU is presenting “The 280-Character Democracy: U.S. Political Communication in the Age of Social Media“.

In 1990, rhetorical theorist Michael Calvin McGee argued that blurred distinctions between media creators and media consumers had created a culture of fragmentation in which audiences constructed their own interpretations of mediated messages. This talk uses McGee's fragmentation as a starting point for understanding digital political communication in the early 21st century. After examining the dangers of online factionalism, I argue that harnessing social media's power as a tool for effective coalition-building depends upon integrating such media with larger political narratives."