a glimpse of the future, or, "what good is twitter?"

Have you read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson yet? How it discusses democratization of various aspects of our culture?

[2008.05.04 updated with current, non-political example]

Here is a sweet example: http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://www.google.com/mapfiles/mapplets/elections/2008/primary/primaries.xml&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google-mp&utm_term=decision2008

http://www.twittervision.com/ (check out the 3d view)

The ramifications are HUGE. Centralized media powers can be bypassed, and near-direct democracy can happen (boy that's a double-edged sword). Information can be gathered directly from the horse’s mouth, rather than filtered through a TV station with a (conscious or not) agenda and spin.

**How media manipulation works: An “expert” on TV who wants to subtly advocate his or her candidate will raise a question implying a candidate might be hurting or losing. This motivates voters to go out and support the candidate feared to lose. If an advocate were to broadcast that someone had an election "locked up" or already won can, this would negatively affect voter turnout.