Internet + Politics

Slide 1: MySpace + YouTube = ePolitics? A look at how social networking and video sites are changing politics

Slide 2: SOCIAL NETWORKING  One-in-five 70 Americans overall 60 (22%) use online Use social social networking 50 network sites sites (Kohut) 40 Get campaign  More younger info from sites voters got 30 information about 20 Signed up as candidates and 10 \"friend\" of campaigns from candidate social networking 0 sites than older Total 18-29 30-39 40+ voters

Slide 3: MYSPACE v FACEBOOK  Barack Obama  Barack Obama 287,791 friends 594,955 supporters  Hillary Clinton  Hillary Clinton 185,589 friends 120,657 supporters  John McCain  John McCain 46,362 friends 69,037 supporters

Slide 4: 2006 MIDTERM ELECTIONS SENATE HOUSE  32% posted a profile on  13% posted a profile on Facebook Facebook  Avg – 2,146 supporters  Avg – 125 supporters

Slide 5: FACEBOOK  2006 Midterm elections – 2.64% of users supported a candidate (Gulati & Williams)  1.5 million (13%) members were connected to a candidate or issue (Gulati & Williams)  Democrats were more likely to use Facebook than Republicans  Did Facebook make a difference?

Slide 6: 2006 MIDTERM ELECTIONS  If there was no incumbent, then it did make a difference!  But the 18-29 year olds were grossly misrepresented  Don’t have to be registered to vote to indicate support of a candidate

Slide 7: YOUTUBE ELECTIONS “THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED… … IT WILL BE YOUTUBED!” (http://it.youtube.com/group/indiemedia)

Slide 8: ONLINE VIDEO Candidate 45 speech/announc  Almost a quarter of 40 ement Americans (24%) 35 Interview with have seen something 30 candidate about a campaign in a 25 video online (Kohut) 20 Campaign  Even 7% among 65+ commercial year olds have seen 15 some type of 10 Candidate campaign video 5 debates online (Kohut) 0 Total 30-39 50-64 Any of the four

Slide 9: POLITICIANS v VIDEOS  Howard Dean – “I have a scream” speech  George Allen – “Macaca” incident  Hillary v Obama – crying and snubbing and plagiarism… oh my!  Videos cango viral online... Could help or harm…

Slide 10: YOUTUBE “What viral seem best at, I notice, is slashing the opposition. And the most brilliant ones, it should be pointed out, are not made by presidential hopefuls but by the electorate who judge them. Perhaps that is as it should be.” (Bachrach)

Slide 11: QUESTIONS?  How much of an influence do you believe online networking and video sites have on politics? What about against traditional media?  How many of you have added a candidate to your Myspace or Facebook? How has it helped the candidate in getting you to participate somehow?  If it’s relatively cheap to build a website and post videos online, why are campaigns getting more expensive?