Social media executives to discuss networks' impact on democracy
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Executives from Google and Twitter will speak about social media and democracy at a March 22 forum at Purdue University.
"Is Social Media Changing the 2012 Election?" will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on March 22 in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Project Impact, the initiative bringing election issues-related events to Purdue.
Susan Swain, co-president of C-SPAN, will serve as moderator for the panel that will include Jonathan Perelman, global lead in industry relations for Google, and Adam Sharp, the Washington/Political lead for Twitter. As with previous Project Impact events, the forum will be interactive; audience members will be asked to participate in an instant poll, and attendees will have the option to ask questions or tweet them for panelists via @Project_Impact.
Swain is a longtime moderator for the Washington Journal, the morning call-in and interview program on C-SPAN, and has hosted nearly 400 events on the network. In her role as co-president, Swain oversees programming for C-SPAN's television channels and C-SPAN radio, and has been involved in the creation of numerous history series for the network.
"In more than 25 years as a journalist and interviewer, Susan Swain has demonstrated a unique talent of taking complicated topics, making them accessible, and engaging everyone from the experts to those who are learning about a subject for the first time," said Carolyn Curiel, director of Project Impact and a former U.S. Ambassador and senior White House aide. "Jonathan Perelman and Adam Sharp are among the best in helping anyone to make the most of the time invested in using social media."
At Google, Perelman's duties include helping to align the company's business and public policy objectives. Perelman also serves as co-chair of Google New York's community affairs team, which seeks to use technology to improve the community through partnerships with nonprofit and educational institutions.
As Twitter's Washington liaison for government and politics, Sharp helps politicians and government employees already on Twitter to better use the network.
The forum is part of a yearlong series of Project Impact events planned and executed by students under the direction of Curiel, who founded Project Impact as a way to engage Purdue and its community by bringing nationally known issues experts and decision-makers to campus.
Project Impact will host its final forum of the spring semester on April 5, when a team from Bloomberg News, View and TV will be on campus to discuss jobs and the economy.
The Project Impact series is made possible through support from the Office of the Provost, the College of Engineering, the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), the Krannert School of Management, International Programs, the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, the Department of History, the Brian Lamb School of Communication, the Purdue Alumni Association, the College of Education, the Purdue Exponent, the College of Technology, the Department of Political Science, and members of the Lafayette community.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Carolyn Curiel, curiel@purdue.edu