ABSTRACT
Some prescient individuals, during the early days of personal computing, predicted that the new machines would soon transform politics and government. It was not until this century, however, that the early promise of technology finally began to be fulfilled. In the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Obama utilized technology, particularly social media, to generate massive political support for his campaigns. In 2010, organizers in the Arab world used Facebook, YouTube, and other social media outlets to build and maintain mass movements that led to regime change throughout the region. In 2014, after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, MO, the resulting protests received national and international attention by social media and helped fuel the Black Lives Matter social movement. Donald J. Trump, as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and then for the presidency, used Twitter to great effect. All of these examples show the convergence of technology and civil society, one of the most important political developments of the twenty-first century so far and one that has far-reaching effects on public administration.
