Last week, Emma Sullivan, a Kansas teenager, wrote a nasty tweet about her governor, from the back of a crowd of students that had gathered to meet him. The governor’s office and Sullivan’s school reacted quickly, with the latter demanding she write a letter of apology. Sullivan refused to write the letter citing her right to free speech. Eventually, the governor himself apologized–via Facebook: “My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms. Although the situation blew over, it demonstrates the way a younger generation is participating in politics through social media. “I do think that social media has helped Millennials become more politically aware, and some more politically active,” Melanie Shreffler, editor-in-chief of Ypulse, a “guide to youth” for marketers. She thinks that Sullivan’s casual criticism of the governor is mirrored, in a somewhat more serious manner, in the various ways teens have become involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

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