ABSTRACT
This chapter concludes our argument by proposing that we must evolve the corporeal metaphors of the “body politic,” which have historically dominated how we define our higher-order political organizations, into a new structure – the network – that more accurately reflects how technology has reshaped the interactions shaping our society into a distributed grid of information mediated by clicks, likes, comments, and followers. A surprising finding of our book has been a twist on the well-documented story that the news business model has come under pressure in the era of social media. However, our findings unexpectedly demonstrated that the news has emerged as the beating structural heart of our digital networks by connecting information and ideological silos that otherwise have no interaction. The emergent network bridge and information hub role for the news has provided it with a new dimension of relevance and importance, which journalists must acknowledge, understand, and embrace. Overall, we emerge from the era of Twitter at a crossroads for news and progressives, gleaned from the lessons learned in the laboratory of the social media platform. The political landscape looks distinctly different as we enter this new digital reality, where whoever creates a more connected network wins.
