Newark Mayor Cory Booker took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012 in San Francisco. We all know him as the Mayor who has taken Twitter by storm, and also the fellow who has no problem jumping into burning buildings to save people. I’m not kidding.
Our own Josh Constine spoke with Booker, and the pair discussed how much the Mayor has adopted social networks to speak with his community.
In addition, Booker is involved in a project called Waywire, that lets users create content, basically democratizing news. The cool thing about Waywire is that people can create “wires” full of news on a topic, and people can collaborate in telling the story.
Yes, this sounds a bit like CNN iReport, but this is clearly not under the monitoring or control of a larger mainstream media property.
One of the most interesting notions that Booker riffed on was “the power of the people is more important than people in power”, which is interesting coming from someone who serves in a public role.
Once you give someone the ability to amplify their voice in a social sphere, things can actually change.
I always enjoy listening to Cory Booker speak, as he takes a unique approach to government involvement, always championing those who don’t have their voice heard currently. When discussing his work with Facebook and bringing money to Newark schools, Booker called Mark Zuckberberg an “american hero” for his work in connecting the world.
Booker’s adoption of social media has been studied by politicians everywhere, simply because he is ridiculously responsive, even when people are having parking issues in Newark. He says that using the Internet has made him a better Mayor, and once you see his stream, you’ll understand why.