Social and Technological Determinism

After going back though old notes and looking at the stuff we have covered over the entirety of this Living the E-Life class Winner's "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" article caught my eye. Looking at the social and technological determinism part of it, and how that can be directly tied in to politics and new media, with politics being the "society".
Social determinism is a social theory which believes society shapes technology, it focuses on the history, design, and development behind the technologies. Social determinism identifies the social systems technology is embedded in as the determining factor for shaping technology. Technological determinism is the theory that suggests that technology shapes society. This theory does not recognize the social, economic, and historical conditions under which technology was made. Technological determinism assumes that society must change to fit technology.
Now whether or not you fall into the social determinist class or the technological determinist school of thought we can substitute politics as a representation of "society" seeing as the political realm is a small society.
New media has definitely shaped the way that politics runs campaigns and works the day to day business. It is much more efficient and convenient to collect campaign donations over the internet rather than mailing checks or collecting at a speech, debate, etc. Politicians these days are riding on the coat tails of facebook pages, blogs, and twitter accounts.
The 2008 presidential election was HEAVILY influenced by new media, and through new media the presidential election really reached generations that would have paid little to no attention if it weren't for new media.
On the other hand, politicians are always looking for the upper hand in any way, shape, or form they can get their hands on or create. You could argue that in an effort to gain the "upper hand" they had to start creating these new media resources for their own use and political gain. Over time these technologies have evolved and the use of them in the political sphere has been augmented.
I tend to fall more on the social determinist side, agreeing that society (politics)created and harnessed the use of these technologies to shape the new way politics is run and communicated to the publics.