Emma Sullivan and the Power of Social Media

If you are unaware of whats going on with Emma Sullivan, the short story is she posted a nasty tweet towards the Kansas (a state in the US) governor.  She got in trouble with her school.  For a better understanding please watch the following videos:

From KSHB NBC Action News (Kansas City Affiliate):

From CNN:

Today CBS reported the following today:

 Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback apologized on Monday for having "over-reacted" to 18-year-old Emma Sullivan, a high school student who had earlier been asked to apologize for making a disparaging remark about the conservative politician over Twitter.
"My staff over-reacted to this tweet and for that I apologize," Brownback said in a written statement, "freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms."

I totally support her not apologizing about her tweet and think that the governors office over reacted way to much.  Her tweet was perfectly justified and is highly protected by the 1st amendment because her tweet was political speech.  (The US 1st amendment provides free speech among other things).  Also, to bounce off of Brownback's comment, Twitter, Facebook and other social media is an important part of free democratic government and is an important tool in getting things changed like we have seen with Arab Spring.