Which presidential candidate is winning on the Internet? Let the numbers tell the story.
The vast majority of forum discussions on McCain Space, the candidate’s social network, have fewer than 10 replies, and most have none as of 3 pm today. Most of the groups have 50 members or less, and less than 50 user-made videos have been uploaded to the site, where the most popular video, with 470 votes is “some random rifle spinning” by a Texas supporter who never says a word. The McCain Blog’s posts have about half the number of comments as the Obama Blog. McCain News on Twitter is following 119 and has 1,686 followers.
Comments on Obama Blog posts range from 450 to 1200+ per post. Obama has 496,701 friends on MySpace, 1,662,290 supporters on Facebook, Obama’s campaign is following 75,287 people on Twitter, where he has 72,367 followers. Following others is a key indicator that a person using Twitter in actually participating in the community.
Politicians have been using the Internet to reach confirmed and potential supporters for more than a decade. But once the Obama campaign won MoveOn.org’s support, it became able to use the web to build a two-way conversation and recruit MoveOn’s remarkably organized members to quick, strong action and donations.
The proof is in the numbers, says ITbusiness.
On Web traffic-tracking site Alexa, BrackObama.com ranks 535 and JohnMcCain.com 4,497 out of all Web pages, as of Aug. 29. That stark contrast wasn’t heightened by the timing of the Democratic convention – over the past several months, Obama’s site has ranked an average of 7,000 positions higher than his opponent’s site.
Which Candidate is Winning Online? Hint: Not McCain
BL Ochman | September 4, 2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (6) | TrackBack (
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Categories: Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy, Politics, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Word of Mouth
Tags: , BL Ochman, McCain, McCain Blog, McCain Space, Obama, Obama Blog, Obama MySpace
Tags: , BL Ochman, McCain, McCain Blog, McCain Space, Obama, Obama Blog, Obama MySpace
Impressive.
400k+ friends on MySpace.
This all means squat if people don’t show up at the polls.
I can see it now.. A tweet… “sorry i couldnt make it today to vote for you maybe next time gotta run sorry”
Your analysis is flawed. Not everyone uses Twitter and Myspace. Google’s search engine is much more popular with the general public.
One of the best gauges of internet popularity is Google Hot Trends:
http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends
Today Obama is only mentioned once in the top 100 and that was for his appearance on O’Reilly. Seems people wanted to see if O’Reilly could get a straight answer from Obama in his No Spin Zone.
McCain searches and phrases related to his campaign (pork barrel spending, maverick, cleft palate, barracuda lyrics) are dominating the top 100. Was really surprised when I saw how much he was dominating the list.
Surprisingly Palin is only mentioned 2 times. Would have thought the count would be higher for her.
Clearly Obama is losing ground and McCain has picked up steam . . . at least for today. This is the page to watch for popularity in the days ahead.
Other candidates who have won online: Howard Dean, Ron Paul…
Frankly, if the election were held today among those I follow on Twitter, I think Obama would win with an 80 point margin.
Of course, if you drive around the neighborhood in which I live and measured the election by yard signs, you’d think it’s a closer race. Or if you were to ask, “Which candidate is winning on Talk Radio?” the answer would be Hint: Not Obama.
My point: These stats probably reveal more about the candidates’ supporter’s relative adoption of social media tools than they reveal anything about who likely voters are going to vote for in November.
BL: There is no doubt, Sen. Obama is certainly more “wired” and he has greater exposure on the Internet. Does that speak for his youth do you think? …and as an overall generational, and cultural chasm?
Does that say that his campaign backers & staff, and the support infrastructure is probably 25-30 years younger in age? We all know that the digital divide is evident by the shear age difference and the fact computers are but 40 years young? Technology rocks!
This country is still divided politically, and this will still be a very close horse-race in November. All this groundswell support and blogging static is evidence of the grassroots involvement, and the opinionated voices are loud.
My wish is for true bi-partisanship involvement, and a culture where we could all get along, and work together and make the necessary changes that we ALL need to right the ship, and get the country back on the right path. Regardless of the internet traffic – – will the American people get out and VOTE?
Bob
Betty – today is the day after the RNC. Of course McCain is popular today. And it’s no surprise that Palin isn’t. She’s all form, no substance.
Rex – no doubt it is a bookie’s dream race. If the youth vote actually happens, social media and the Internet will swing the election.
I have been asking every young person I meet for their views and have yet to meet one who’s for McCain. Now they need to vote. Historically, they haven’t shown at the polls.
It’s fascinating, scary, and at the same time, it’s SSDD. :>)