The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
The
correlation
between
the
use
of
social
media
Web
sites
among
different
age
groups
and
the
influence
of
such
sites
on
the
2008
presidential
election.
by
Dave
Rigotti
An
adaption
of
his
thesis
as
partial
fulfillment
of
the
requirements
for
the
Bachelor
of
Business
Administration
Degree
with
Honors
in
Marketing
from
The
University
of
Toledo.
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
About
the
Author
Dave
Rigotti
is
a
writer,
speaker,
and
Internet
marketer.
He’s
work(s/ed)
with
some
of
the
most
well‐ known
and
influential
brands
in
the
world,
conducting
search
engine
optimization
and
developing
marketing
communication
strategies.
In
July,
he
will
be
joining
Microsoft
as
a
consumer‐focused
marketer
on
Bing
(formerly
Live
Search),
Microsoft’s
search
engine.
Dave
recently
graduated
from
The
University
of
Toledo
(BBA
with
Honors,
magna
cum
laude,
2009)
after
majoring
in
marketing
and
entrepreneurship,
family
and
small
business.
This
PDF
is
an
adaptation
of
his
thesis.
Be
sure
to
visit
his
blog
and
follow
him
on
Twitter.
II
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Disclaimer
/
Legal
Information
All
contents
copyright
C
2008
‐
2009
by
Dave
Rigotti.
All
rights
reserved.
No
part
of
this
document
or
the
related
files
may
be
reproduced
or
transmitted
in
any
form,
by
any
means
(electronic,
photocopying,
recording,
or
otherwise)
without
the
prior
written
permission
of
the
publisher.
Limit
of
Liability
and
Disclaimer
of
Warranty:
The
publisher
has
used
its
best
efforts
in
preparing
this
book,
and
the
information
provided
herein
is
provided
"as
is."
Dave
Rigotti
makes
no
representation
or
warranties
with
respect
to
the
accuracy
or
completeness
of
the
contents
of
this
book
and
specifically
disclaims
any
implied
warranties
of
merchantability
or
fitness
for
any
particular
purpose
and
shall
in
no
event
be
liable
for
any
loss
of
profit
or
any
other
commercial
damage,
including
but
not
limited
to
special,
incidental,
consequential,
or
other
damages.
Trademarks:
This
book
identifies
product
names
and
services
known
to
be
trademarks,
registered
trademarks,
or
service
marks
of
their
respective
holders.
They
are
used
throughout
this
book
in
an
editorial
fashion
only.
III
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Abstract
Research
was
conducted
to
determine
which
main
presidential
candidate
of
the
2008
presidential
election,
Barack
Obama
or
John
McCain,
was
more
effective
at
using
social
media
and
the
impact
these
efforts
had
on
obtaining
votes,
with
a
breakdown
by
age.
IV
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Acknowledgements
This
thesis
is
dedicated
to
my
parents,
Dave
and
Connie
Rigotti,
who
have
always
supported
my
numerous
endeavors.
I’d
also
like
to
thank
Professor
Carol
Sullinger,
Dr.
Thomas
W.
Sharkey,
Dr.
Ainsworth
A.
Bailey,
ShareThis,
eMarketer,
and
everyone
else
who
helped
me
in
writing
this
thesis.
V
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Table
of
Contents
About
the
Author ...........................................................................................................................II
Disclaimer
/
Legal
Information .............................................................................................. III
Abstract............................................................................................................................................IV
Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................... V
Table
of
Contents ..........................................................................................................................VI
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Candidates’
Web
Sites .................................................................................................................. 7
Social
Networking........................................................................................................................10
Facebook ....................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Myspace ......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Digg.................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
Twitter............................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Collaboration ................................................................................................................................18
Meetup ........................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Media ...............................................................................................................................................20
Flickr ............................................................................................................................................................................... 20
YouTube......................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Voting
Results ...............................................................................................................................25
References......................................................................................................................................29
VI
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Introduction
The
Internet
has
played
an
integral
role
over
the
past
few
years
in
public
elections.
In
fact,
according
to
research
gathered
and
reported
by
eMarketer
Inc.,
64%
of
U.S.
adult
Internet
users
agree
that
the
Internet
has
become
important
for
the
campaign
process
in
2008.i
Additionally,
24%
of
U.S.
adults
learned
about
the
presidential
campaigns
through
the
Internet
in
2008,ii
making
it
the
5th
most
used
source.
Is
online
success
enough
to
significantly
influence
a
presidential
election,
especially
since
politics
are
so
fragmented?
A
2007
New
York
Times
article
wrote:
Some
experts…
cautioned
against
overstating
the
potential
ramifications
of
the
Internet
divide.
After
all,
Mr.
Dean’s
candidacy,
which
stalled
after
the
Iowa
caucuses,
showed
that
runaway
success
online
is
not
enough.iii
So,
we
get
to
the
question:
What
is
the
correlation
between
the
use
of
social
media
Web
sites
among
different
age
groups
and
the
influence
of
such
sites
on
the
2008
presidential
election?
However,
before
explaining
this
issue,
it
first
needs
to
be
noted
that
“influence”
is
an
arbitrary
idea.
Technically,
a
non‐voter
could
have
influenced
the
results
of
the
election.
Unfortunately,
it’s
not
possible
to
filter
non‐voters
out
of
social
media
sites,
so
they
are
counted
in
data
collected.
However,
the
exit
poll
numbers
reflect
only
U.S.
citizens
over
the
age
of
18
who
voted.
1
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Another
parameter
to
establish
for
the
purposes
of
this
thesis,
is
the
sites
included
in
social
media.
They
are:
social
networking,
social
aggregation,
blogs,
and
video
and
photo
sites.
Included
sites
were
subjectively
chosen,
based
on:
size,
candidates’
presence
on
site,
and
potential
for
facilitating
influence.
Web
site
research
was
conducted
the
two
weeks
prior
to
the
election,
October
20
through
November
3,
2008,
with
supporting
research
and
writing
from
November
4
through
February
5,
2009.
This
paper
will
be
looking
at
both
campaigns’
Web
sites,
Facebook,
Flickr,
Youtube,
Myspace,
Twitter,
Meetup,
Technorati,
and
Digg.
Actually,
to
put
reach
of
all
the
sites
into
perspective,
below
is
a
graph
of
their
U.S.
monthly
unique
visitors
according
to
Compete.com
(NOTE:
All
data
provided
by
Compete.com
is
of
U.S.
visitors
age
18
or
greater).
2
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
As
you
can
see,
youtube,
myspace,
facebook,
digg,
and
flickr
dominate
the
social
media
scene,
all
having
20
million
or
more
U.S.
unique
visitors
in
September.
However,
how
did
the
campaigns
use
these
sites
and
how
effective
were
they
to
each
candidate?
Isolating
the
smaller
sites,
twitter,
technorati,
and
meetup
all
had
roughly
the
same
U.S.
unique
visitors
at
roughly
between
2
and
3
million.
3
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
According
to
data
provided
by
Compete,
Inc.,
selected
social
media
sites
sent
hundreds
of
thousands
of
visitors
to
both
the
Obama
and
McCain’s
official
campaign
Web
sites
in
September
2008.
The
reason
for
providing
these
graphs
is
to
show
the
potential
for
influence
with
the
candidates’
sites
as
reference.
The
more
traffic
a
site
has,
generally,
the
more
reach,
or
number
of
people,
it
has
to
influence.
4
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Visitors
Referred
to
Candidates'
Site
meetup.com
Social
Media
Site
twitter.com
jlickr.com
digg.com
myspace.com
youtube.com
facebook.com
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
McCain
Obama
Number
of
U.S.
Unique
Visitors,
ages
18+,
Sept.
08
Of
the
selected
social
media
Web
sites,
Facebook
was
most
effective
at
sending
traffic
to
the
official
campaigns’
Web
sites,
followed
by
YouTube
and
Myspace,
respectively.
Low
impact
sites
included
Meetup,
Twitter,
Flickr,
and
Digg,
all
sending
less
than
20,000
visitors
to
each
campaign’s
site
in
September.
However,
what
type
of
traffic
are
they
sending?
Were
the
referred
visitors
even
of
age
to
vote
and
located
in
the
U.S.?
This
data,
among
other
data,
is
what
I’ll
look
at
in
each
site’s
breakdown.
ShareThis
isa
company
that
has
created
a
small
widget,
or
a
small
application
on
a
Web
site,
that
allows
users
to
share
a
specific
Web
site
with
friends
via
social
media,
email,
and
others.
Their
widget
tracked
what
articles
were
being
shared,
based
on
the
keywords
of
“obama,”
“biden,”
“mccain,”
and
“palin”.
The
results
are
below:
5
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Election
Sharing
Activity
100%
90%
80%
Percentage
of
Shares
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
11‐Sep
18‐Sep
25‐Sep
4‐Sep
2‐Oct
14‐Aug
21‐Aug
28‐Aug
24‐Jul
31‐Jul
9‐Oct
16‐Oct
23‐Oct
30‐Oct
7‐Aug
Obama
Biden
McCain
Palin
Date
Obama
had
roughly
50
to
90
percent
of
sharing
activity
until
August
2008
when
McCain
announced
Sarah
Palin
as
his
running
mate.
Up
until
the
first
week
of
October
2008,
Palin
had
much
more
success
than
Obama
or
McCain
in
sharing
activity,
with
her
highest
day
achieving
72
percent
of
shares.
However,
as
the
election
neared,
Palin’s
sharing
activity
drastically
declined,
while
Obama’s
rose.
Sharing
is
defined
as
telling
a
contact,
or
friend,
about
the
article
or
Web
site,
through
the
ShareThis
widget.
6
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Candidates’
Web
Sites
Before
we
take
a
look
at
the
social
media
Web
sites,
let’s
first
look
at
the
candidates’
Web
site
demographics
to
understand
the
type
of
visitors
they
attracted.
Looking
at
the
candidates’
Web
site
visitor
age,
we
see
that
barackobama.com
attracted
a
slightly
higher
percentage
of
voter‐aged
visitors
as
a
percentage
of
total
visitors,
when
compared
to
johnmccain.com,
according
to
data
compiled
on
Compete.com.
Age
Groups
as
a
Percentage
of
Total
Visitors
40
Percent
30
20
10
0
18‐34
35‐49
Age
Group
50+
barackobama.com
johnmccain.com
Also
using
data
provided
by
Compete.com,
we
see
that
barackobama.com
had
nearly
double
the
unique
visitors
of
johnmccain.com
in
September
2008,
as
shown
on
the
graph
below:
7
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
This
is
an
indication
that
the
Web
was
more
utilized
by
the
Obama
campaign
when
compared
to
the
McCain
campaign;
however
visitor
numbers
don’t
necessarily
translate
into
raising
campaign
dollars,
or
more
importantly,
actual
votes
come
election
day.
Approximately
100,000
more
visitors
to
barackobama.com
was
through
social
media,
based
on
the
social
media
referrer
data.
Next,
each
of
the
social
media
sites
will
be
individually
analyzed.
I
will
be
looking
at
each
candidate’s
presence
on
the
site,
the
age
of
users,
and
the
potential
for
voting
influence.
8
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Blogs
Technorati
Technorati,
a
site
best
known
for
it’s
blog
search
engine,
provides
results
of
blog
posts
based
on
keyword
search.
While
it
only
returns
keyword
usage,
and
not
the
context
of
the
message,
we
can
still
determine
which
Technorati
Search
Results
Obama
McCain
candidate
received
more
mentions
on
blogs
at
large,
an
indication
of
blog
share
of
voice.
It
needs
to
be
noted
that
I
could
not
segment
based
on
blog
country
origin,
so
results
include
international
blogs
as
well
as
U.S.
blogs.
Above,
we
see
that
“obama”
returned
over
650,000
results,
and
“mccain”
returned
just
over
500,000
results
on
the
search
engine.
This
indicates
Obama’s
share
of
blog
voice,
or
the
overall
blog
coverage,
is
roughly
30%
higher
than
McCain’s.
While
just
blog
mentions
don’t
indicate
tone
of
message,
Obama
clearly
had
a
higher
share
of
voice
than
McCain
on
blogs.
9
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Social
Networking
Facebook
Facebook,
one
of
the
most
dominate
social
media
Web
sites,
had
28.21
million
visits
in
September
from
people
who
are
18
years
of
age
or
older
and
residing
in
the
U.S,
based
on
data
provided
by
both
Compete.com
and
Quantcast.com.
Obama
spent
more
advertising
dollars
on
Facebook
than
any
of
the
other
social
media
sites.
Actually,
from
January
through
August,
the
Obama
Campaign
spent
nearly
$112,000
on
Facebook,
according
to
ClickZ.iv
Facebook
representation
can
be
measured
in
two
ways.
First,
by
using
Facebook’s
advertisement
targeting
feature,
the
number
of
profiles
that
mention
the
keyword
“obama”
or
“mccain”
can
be
determined
(labeled
on
the
graph
as
keyword).
Secondly,
both
Obama
and
McCain
have
Facebook
profiles
for
which
supporters,
dubbed
“fans,”
can
add
them
as
friends
(labeled
on
the
graph
as
fans).
Both
are
represented
on
the
graph
below
and
it’s
quite
clear
that
Obama
dominates
Facebook
with
both
keywords
and
number
of
fans.
10
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Facebook
Representation
of
Candidates
Number
of
Instances
or
Fans
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
keyword
fans
Type
of
Representation
Obama
McCain
Of
the
Facebook
users
that
have
chosen
to
publically
themselves
associate
with
a
Political
Association
of
Facebook
Users
political
thought,
which
closely
represents
party
alignment,
liberal,
41%
31%
are
are
28%
41%
liberal
conservative
moderate
31%
conservative,
and
28%
are
moderate,
according
to
data
provided
by
Facebook
on
March
6,
2008.v
If
the
data
hold
true,
McCain
should
have
a
higher
Facebook
representation,
based
on
the
political
associations
when
compared
to
Obama’s
numbers.
11
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
32%
more
Facebook
users
indicated
they
were
liberal
than
conservative,
but
Obama
had
270%
more
friends
than
McCain.
This
indicates
that
either
Obama
had
a
disproportionally
large
number
of
supporters
or
McCain
had
a
disproportionately
small
number
of
supporters
on
Facebook.
In
looking
at
the
is
demographics,
Facebook
dominated
by
12
to
34
year
olds.
While
12
to
17
had
an
index
(Note:
Index
represents
how
a
site's
audience
compares
to
the
online
Internet
population
as
a
whole.
An
index
of
100
indicates
a
site's
audience
is
at
parity
with
the
total
Internet
population.)
of
272,
47%
of
Facebook’s
visits
come
from
those
who
are
18
to
34.
This
is
important,
because
either
candidates’
representation
numbers
can
be
skewed
by
those
not
old
enough
to
vote.
According
to
a
Pew
Internet
survey,vi
Gen
Y
(age
18‐32)
constitutes
30%
of
the
Internet
population,
reaffirming
Facebook’s
high
index
for
users
age
18‐34.
Obama
dominated
McCain
on
Facebook.
Additionally,
a
large
percentage
(33%)
of
users
are
under
the
age
of
18,
meaning
they
were
not
eligible
to
vote
in
the
election.
12
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Myspace
Myspace,
like
Facebook,
allows
users
to
connect
with
others
through
their
friends,
as
well
as
through
groups.
Myspace,
had
over
56
million
visits
from
U.S.
visitors
over
the
age
of
18
in
September,
meaning
it
has
broader
reach
domestically
than
Facebook.
Age
distributions
closely
mirror
that
of
Facebook’s
with
33
percent
of
traffic
coming
from
those
under
18,
and
44
percent
of
traffic
coming
from
those
between
the
ages
of
18
and
34.
Myspace
was
well
MySpace
Friends
utilized
by
Obama,
allowing
him
to
attain
more
than
800,000
friends,
compared
to
Obama
McCain
McCain’s
paltry
5,187,
shown
on
the
graph
to
the
left.
The
impact,
however,
is
questionable.
Myspace,
like
Facebook,
is
a
site
people
use
to
connect
with
each
other,
share
news
and
information
with
friends,
and
keep
track
of
contacts.
Even
though
Obama
had
many
more
“friends”
than
McCain,
the
age
and
geographic
location
of
users,
in
addition
to
the
site
being
designed
for
users
to
stay
13
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
updated
on
people,
not
persuade
them,
makes
the
impact
questionable.
This
is
questionable
even
though
MySpace
referred
over
52,000
U.S.
visitors
to
barackobama.com,
and
over
37,000
U.S.
visitors
to
johnmccain.com
in
September
2008.
Even
though
Obama
had
many
more
friends
than
McCain,
Myspace
profiles
sent
nearly
the
same
amount
of
traffic
to
each
of
the
respective
sites.
On
possible
reason
for
this
is
that
Obama’s
friends
were
less
active
on
Myspace
than
McCains.
Even
more
so
than
Facebook,
Obama
held
a
clear
advantage
over
McCain
in
terms
of
friends,
however
the
impact
number
of
users
had
on
the
campaign
is
questionable.
Digg
Digg
is
a
news
aggregation
Web
site
that
allows
users
to
add,
rate,
and
comment
on
news
articles.
It’s
considered
to
be
a
low
impact
site,
because
of
the
low
traffic
it
referred
to
the
candidates
sites
in
September.
In
terms
of
visitors’
age,
87%
are
of
voting
age,
with
28%
of
total
visitors
between
the
ages
of
18
and
34,
as
evident
on
the
graph.
To
determine
candidate
share
of
voice,
two
searches
were
done
using
the
keywords
“obama”
and
“mccain,”
respectively,
and
the
number
of
results
pages
recorded.
“Obama”
returned
109
pages
of
results,
while
“McCain”
returned
88,
meaning
the
share
of
voice
was
in
Obama’s
favor,
but
not
as
much
as
on
of
the
other
sites.
14
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
However,
when
looking
at
the
content
of
these
submitted
news
items,
a
large
percentage
seem
to
be
pro‐Obama
and
anti‐McCain
(or
Palin),
meaning
that
even
though
McCain’s
share
of
voice
was
fairly
close
to
Obama’s,
most
of
that
voice
was
negative.
Obama
edged
out
McCain
in
terms
of
number
of
pages
of
results,
however
the
perception
of
the
candidates
seemed
to
be
in
Obama’s
favor.
The
impact,
in
terms
of
referred
traffic
to
the
official
website
of
the
campaigns’,
is
minimal.
Twitter
Twitter,
a
micro‐blogging
service
that
allows
its
users
to
send
and
read
other
users'
140
character
updates
(known
as
tweets),
had
nearly
3.25
million
accountsvii
worldwide
and
was
used
by
both
Obama
and
McCain.
However,
the
campaigns
used
it
for
different
purposes.
Obama
used
Twitter
to
update
on
location,
while
McCain
used
it
to
unveil
new
advertisements,
press
releases,
and
statements.
The
number
of
users
following
Obama’s
and
McCain’s
updates
and
the
number
of
times
the
candidates’
Twitter
account
had
been
updated
can
be
seen
below:
Twitter
Followers
Twitter
Updates
Obama
McCain
Obama
McCain
15
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
In
addition
to
the
campaigns
utilizing
Twitter,
other
Twitter
users
had
also
been
very
active
in
mentioning
Obama
and
McCain.
Using
Google
and
the
site:
search
feature,
there
were
1,260,000
instances
of
“obama”
and
725,000
instances
of
“mccain”
on
Twitter.
Based
on
data
of
Twitter
users
who
have
tweeted
about
Obama
and
McCain,
provided
by
Twitrratr.com,
Obama
(sample
size:
24120
tweets)
had
more
positive
buzz
on
Twitter
than
McCain
(sample
size:
13966
tweets).
Twitrratr
works,
according
to
their
website,
by
using
a
pre‐defined
list
of
positive
keywords
and
a
list
of
negative
keywords.
Twitrratr
then
searches
Twitter
for
the
user‐defined
keyword,
and
the
results
are
cross‐referenced
against
the
adjective
lists.
The
results
are
complied
and
the
relative
number
of
positive,
negative,
and
neutral
twitter
messages
are
displayed
accordingly.
Perception
on
Twitter
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
Obama
McCain
positive
negative
neutral
16
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Very
arguably,
this
is
not
a
very
good
way
of
measuring
perception.
For
example,
a
tweet
from
user
@aldy
reads,
“Obama
should
be
his
own
press
secretary,
his
current
one
sucks
when
talking
to
the
press.”viii
Even
though
this
tweet
was
after
the
election,
a
similar
one
before
could
have
given
Obama
(or
McCain)
negative
perception,
since
“sucks”
is
on
the
negatives
list.
However,
this
was
mentioning
that
Obama’s
press
secretary
sucks,
not
him.
Twitter,
however,
had
a
low
reach
as
compared
to
the
other
sites,
with
just
over
3
million
visitors
from
the
U.S.
in
September
2008,
according
to
Compete.com.
In
looking
at
the
different
age
groups
of
Twitter,
we
find
that
nearly
all
users
are
over
the
age
of
18.
While
the
site
has
millions
of
visits
from
18+
year
olds
in
the
U.S.,
its
impact
is
relatively
low,
especially
when
compared
to
the
other
social
media
Web
sites,
like
Facebook.
17
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Collaboration
Meetup
Meetup
was
the
most
utilized
collaboration
Web
site
between
Obama
and
McCain.
Meetup
makes
it
easy
for
anyone
to
organize
a
local
group
or
find
one
of
the
thousands
already
meeting
up
face‐to‐face.
In
essence,
Meetup
is
a
basic
way
to
engage
and
organize
supporters
online
for
offline
activism.
Obama
had
over
14,000
active
members,
and
McCain
had
just
over
1,750
members.
What
is
really
Meetup
Members
important
about
Meetup
is
that
while
the
site
might
not
directly
Obama
McCain
influence
the
outcome
of
the
election,
what
it
organizes
might
very
well.
Its
important
to
note
that
while
the
site
has
fairly
low
traffic
and
referred
few
visitors
to
the
official
campaign
Web
sites,
it
was
instrumental
in
organizing
volunteerism.
The
site
is
also
dominated
by
voting
age
members,
especially
in
the
35‐49
age
group.
To
put
impact
in
perspective,
an
article
titled
“How
Obama
Won”
by
Rolling
Stone
writes:
18
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Howard
Dean
used
the
Internet
for
meetups
—
Obama
used
it
to
create
a
movement.
It
was
enormously
important
for
getting
the
message
out,
raising
money
and
mobilizing
voters.
Those
are
the
three
things
—
message,
money
and
mobilization
—
that
the
Obama
team
saw
and
executed
on
brilliantly.ix
While
Meetup
had
fairly
low
traffic
and
referrer
volumes,
it
was
instrumental
in
bringing
online
activism
offline.
19
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Media
Flickr
Flickr
is
a
site
that
allows
users
to
upload
digital
images
and
tag
them
with
keywords.
Other
specific
users
can
then
search
these
keywords.
Obama
had
a
greater
presence
on
Flickr
than
McCain,
shown
to
the
right.
In
the
traffic
graph,
Flickr
has
massive
amounts
of
traffic,
however,
it’s
not
as
interactive
or
social
as
a
site
like
Facebook,
so
it
most
likely
doesn’t
have
as
strong
of
influence.
90%
of
Flickr’s
U.S.
visitors
are
over
the
age
of
18.
Flickr
Search
Results
Obama
McCain
Obama
and
McCain
had
many
pictures
in
professional
and
semi‐formal
situations,
with
most
of
them
being
fairly
candid.
20
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Because
these
images
contain
a
very
short
message,
if
any,
the
actual
impact
for
influence
is
fairly
low,
however
it’s
still
important
to
note
Flickr
has
90%
of
its
traffic
coming
from
visitors
of
voting
age.
YouTube
Youtube,
one
of
the
world’s
largest
Web
sites
in
terms
of
traffic,
was
an
integral
part
of
each
campaign,
allowing
the
candidates
to
publish
campaign
updates,
commercials,
and
more.
Unlike
the
other
social
media
sites,
YouTube
allowed
the
campaigns
to
provide
an
experience
to
potential
voters
–
both
with
audio
and
visual
components.
Obama’s
Interestingly
enough,
campaign
also
included
a
donation
widget,
that
allowed
visitors
to
donate
to
his
campaign.
This
was
one
of
the
few
instantaces
that
integrated
social
media
directly
with
campaign
fundraising.
According
to
a
Washington
Post
article:
The
campaign
activated
the
Google
Checkout
option
on
all
of
its
YouTube
videos
on
Tuesday,
meaning
viewers
can
make
donations
from
$15
to
$1,000.
Checkout
allows
online
shoppers
(or
in
this
case,
voters)
to
create
a
single
login
for
all
online
purchases
(or
donations).x
21
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Even
though
the
12
to
17
age
bracket
has
an
index
of
164,
only
19%
of
its
U.S.
visitors
fall
into
this
category.
The
18+
category,
or
U.S.
visitors
of
voting
age,
accounted
for
78%
of
the
nearly
63
million
unique
visitors
in
September.
Additionally,
it
needs
to
be
pointed
out
that
42%
of
U.S.
visitors
to
Youtube
are
35
years
of
age
or
older,
meaning
they
are
of
prime
voting
and
donation
age.
When
looking
at
YouTube
Search
Results
YouTube
search
results,
or
videos
on
YouTube
that
are
tagged
with
“obama”
and
Obama
McCain
“mccain,”
Obama
held
a
clear
advantage
in
terms
of
number
of
videos.
Again,
the
tonality
of
these
videos
may
be
different
for
each
candidate.
A
look
at
the
top
videos
reveals
very
positive
content
on
Obama
and
very
negative
content
on
McCain.
In
fact,
a
video
with
over
8
million
views
is
titled
“McCain's
YouTube
Problem
Just
Became
a
Nightmare,”xi
which
is
essentially
a
very
strong
anti‐McCain
video.
22
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
YouTube
Subscribers
Obama
clearly
YouTube
dominates
subscribers,
or
the
number
of
Obama
McCain
users
who
to
have
receive
subscribed
updates
when
Obama
and
McCain
publish
a
new
video
to
the
site.
This
means
that,
there
were
many
more
people
interested
in
receiving
updates
on
Obama’s
videos
than
McCain’s
videos.
Obama
also
had
more
channel
views.
While
this
graph
may
seem
simple,
it
is
very
Obama
McCain
YouTube
Channel
Views
important,
because
videos
can
be
much
more
influential
than
say
a
status
update
on
Twitter.
They
can
include
much
more
content,
include
less
restrictions
in
content,
and
allow
the
candidate
to
have
a
clear
presence.
Obama
held
another
distinct
advantage
over
McCain
on
one
of
the
most
visited,
and
arguably
the
most
influential,
sites
of
the
election.
Additionally,
the
tonality
of
23
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
videos
was
greatly
in
Obama’s
favor;
however,
22%
of
YouTube’s
traffic
comes
from
users
not
of
voting
age.
24
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Voting
Results
The
graph
below
represents
four
major
age
groups
as
a
percentage
of
the
total
voters
for
both
the
2004
and
2008
presidential
electionsxii.
It
is
important
to
note
that
social
media
did
not
appear
to
attract
any
new
voters
as
a
percentage
of
total
voters.
Presidential
Election
Results
Percentage,
as
a
Total
of
all
Votes,
for
their
respective
year
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
18‐29
30‐44
45‐64
2004
2008
65
or
over
Total
Popular
Vote
2004
=
121,069,054
2008
=
129,391,711
Age
Group
According
to
official
reports
by
the
Federal
Election
Commission,
the
popular
vote
(Bush/Kerry)
for
2004
was
121,069,054xiii
and
the
popular
vote
(Obama/McCain)
for
2008
was
129,391,711xiv,
an
incredibly
small
marginal
increase.
If
social
media
didn’t
attract
any
new
voters,
did
it
influence
voters
who
originally
supported
one
candidate
to
actually
vote
for
another
candidate?
25
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
The
below
graph
shows
not
only
the
distribution
of
ages
from
voting,
but
also
the
percentage
of
total
votes
for
the
age
group.
The
50‐64
age
group
was
the
dominate
voting
group,
accounting
for
over
27%
of
total
votes,
while
18‐24
year
old
voters
accounted
for
just
over
10%.
Voting
Results
by
Age
Group
and
Candidate
Percentage,
as
a
Total
of
all
Votes
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
18‐24
25‐29
30‐39
40‐49
50‐64
65
or
over
Obama
McCain
Age
Group
Based
solely
on
this
data,
it
would
appear
that
Obama
made
more
strides
in
attracting
the
younger
voters
than
McCain,
and
social
media
could
be
named
as
an
influencer.
However,
let’s
look
at
voting
patterns.
Could
it
be
that
Obama
was
a
more
attractive
candidate
to
younger
voters,
just
as
John
Kerry
may
have
been,
and
that
it
wasn’t
driven
by
social
media?
John
Kerry,
in
2004,
attracted
54%
of
the
18‐29
year
old
voters,
while
Obama
attracted
66%.
Additionally,
in
the
30‐44
age
category,
Kerry
grabbed
just
44%,
while
Obama
received
52%
of
the
votes.
Using
some
extrapolation
and
assumptions,
the
graph
below
represents
the
average
age
(from
Quantcast.com)
of
the
social
media
sites
mentioned
in
this
paper
26
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
(excluding
Technorati)
and
that
age
group’s
percentage
of
total
votes
in
the
2008
presidential
election
(from
CNN.com).
Percent
of
Social
Media
Use
and
Votes
in
the
2008
Presidential
Election
by
Age
Group
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Percent
Under
18
18%
0%
18‐34
42%
28%
35‐49
24%
31%
50+
15%
31%
Sources
Quantcast.com
and
CNN.com
%
social
media
site
usage
%
votes
Age
Groups
%
social
media
site
usage
%
votes
Not
surprisingly,
18%
of
social
media
usage
is
by
those
not
even
old
enough
to
vote.
Additionally,
the
18
to
34
age
group
accounted
for
42%
of
social
media
site
usage,
but
only
28%
of
votes.
In
essence,
the
younger
visitors
(=
35
years
old)
accounted
for
most
of
the
votes.
27
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
Conclusion
In
conclusion,
based
on
research
conducted,
social
media
was
a
great
connector
and
had
some
impact
on
voters,
especially
in
the
18‐29
age
groups.
However,
I
maintain
that
it
was
more
of
a
connector
than
a
direct
influencer
in
getting
candidate
votes.
Obama
having,
in
some
instances,
more
than
10
times
the
exposure
on
some
social
media
sites
and
basically
being
at
parity
with
McCain
in
the
30‐64
age
groups
in
percentage
of
votes,
indicates
social
media
wasn’t
as
impactful
in
older
age
groups.
Indirectly,
social
media
was
an
instrumental
enabler.
It
connected
hundreds
of
thousands
of
volunteers,
referred
millions
of
visitors
to
the
candidates
Web
sites,
and
it
provided
information
at
incredible
speed.
Social
media
marketing,
especially
in
politics
is
here
to
stay.
It’s
nearly
free
and,
as
political
advertising
becomes
more
fragmented,
candidates
will
be
looking
to
reach
users
wherever
they
are
and
social
media
sites
are
no
exception.
In
looking
at
the
future,
candidates
will
start
to
use
social
media
as
an
influencer
and
a
fundraiser,
rather
than
a
way
to
just
push
out
standard
content
(like
press
releases)
and
update
users
on
their
location.
28
Rigotti,
Dave
|
The
Social
Media
Use
of
Obama
and
McCain
References
i
USC
Annenberg
School
Center
for
the
Digital
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“2008
Digital
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Report,”
January
17,
2008
as
cited
by
“Web
Insight”
press
release,
March
17,
2008
ii
Pew
Research
Center
for
the
People
and
the
Press
of
pew
&
American
Life
Project,
“Internet’s
Broader
Role
in
Campaign
2008,”
January
11,
2008.
iii
Luo,
Michael.
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."
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iv
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v
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vi
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vii
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22
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2008
viii
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05
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ix
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x
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xi
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18
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xii
and
.
xiii
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.
xiv
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OFFICIAL
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22
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2009
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29