Chris Reed

I seem to have blogged a bit about social media and the US elections. Here's Jeremiah Owyang's take on how the Presidential candidates have harnessed social media.

Unsurprisingly, Obama is way out there in front in terms of the numbers...with this demographic.

Will the UK election follow these patterns, either in terms of sheer volume, or activism of voters?

Somehow I suspect not, for two main reasons (both of which came out in the Torin Douglas piece, below).

1) Our electoral system is simply not set up like the presidential system where "cult of the personality" is everything, partly because...

2) We still do elect individual MPs, not the PM. Constituency votes are the be all and end all

But UK politicians should certainly be listening and learning to what's going on in the States.

Harnessing social media effectively could help in at least four main ways

1) Motivating the supporter base. Preaching to the converted remains important. They're the ones who help get the votes out on the day

2) Fundraising. We haven't seen the levels of individual donations that the US elections rely on, but given recent ship-based discussions I predict that the parties will have to tap more voters (i.e. not just party members) than ever before in the next election

3) Policy development and argument. The internet is basically a pub. It's where people talk, and clever people listen. Sometimes it's an early warning system. Sometimes it's an echo-chamber. But it provides unrivalled access to what people are actually thinking. Political parties of all shades should take note, and tweak their policies accordingly

4) The personalisation of politics. Rather perversely - being friended by a politician can sometimes be akin to being "followed" by a celebrity on twitter (@stephenfry anyone?) All politicians are looking for that "personal" touch. Using social media wisely can help to make invidual supporters feel special, and, when used appropriately, can also help answer critics' questions in a sincere and honest way.

I'm sure there are other reasons - any suggestions/contributions most welcome..

Anyway, enough of my thoughts. Here's Jeremiah's take on why Obama seems to be at least 240 times more popular than McCain...

Internet Usage in United States
United States Population: 303,824,646
Internet Usage: 220,141,969
Penetration rate: 72.5%
Growth from 2000-2008: 130.9%
Stats from Internet WorldStats (Census, Nielson)

Facebook
Obama: 2,379,102 supporters
McCain: 620,359 supporters

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

MySpace
Obama: Friends: 833,161
McCain: Friends: 217,811

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

YouTube
Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110
McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993