It’s ‘2018 version of fireside chats’
Renee Bracey Sherman.
Unlike Trump, who can be belligerent on social media, Ocasio-Cortez takes a laid-back approach similar to the one favored by Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, who famously live-streamed his 2017 bipartisan road trip with Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, when weather grounded both of their flights and they decided to drive to Washington, D.C., together. During his unsuccessful Senate run against Sen. Ted Cruz, O’Rourke frequently popped up on Facebook Live, skateboarding outside Whataburger or air-drumming to the Who.
Ocasio-Cortez used Instagram Stories — a Snapchat-inspired feature in which users post photos and short videos that disappear after 24 hours unless they are “pinned,” or saved, to that user’s profile — to connect with voters throughout her campaign. Her following has continued to grow substantially class trivia — Congress has its own attending physician, she informed her followers — Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram stories have also provided behind-the-scenes looks at what new members of Congress do during their transition period.
On Thursday, while riding Amtrak back to New York, she ordered peanut M&Ms from the cafe car and shared the cover of the book she was reading, “Setting Course: A Congressional Management Guide.” Before being sworn in, she explained, she would need to come up with a budget and a strategic plan that would reflect her priorities.
“With limited resources, these decisions aren’t always easy,” she wrote. “For example: would you rather have a Congressmember with an amazing local services office, or one that leads nationally on issues?” People viewing her Instagram story were invited to weigh in by clicking on a poll.
Talking to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Monday night, Ocasio-Cortez admitted that she didn’t “go in with some grand strategy” for using Instagram. But she did want to make the political process feel more accessible, she explained: “I think it’s so important that we humanize our government.”
She hasn’t been assigned an office yet, but OcasioCortez has already been praised for making Congress seem less distant and daunting.
“By showing so much, Ocasio- Cortez is completely demystifying a process that had once been thought of only as the provenance of those old, white men,” wrote Madison Feller at Elle. “She makes politics seem relatable, doable, possible for any young person watching.”
Even the conservative blog RedState, where a recent headline declared “Mocking Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Is Not Only Fun But It Is The Right Thing To Do,” gave the incoming congresswoman credit for using an app that captions her live videos so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can follow along.
Though Ocasio- Cortez has been celebrated for her transparency, there’s one major wrinkle: Both Instagram stories and Instagram Live videos are designed to automatically disappear, leaving no permanent record of what was said. Lawmakers’ use of this technology, noted Fast Company, “will inevitably raise questions about accountability and archival records for our public representatives.”
While Ocasio-Cortez has “pinned” many of her Instagram stories to her profile, preserving them for the time being, there’s no publicly available video from Sunday night’s live stream.
If you’re looking for her black bean soup recipe, though, you can find that on Bon Appetit.