2. The Beginning
Political blogging dates back to the 1990’s
Grew exponentially after September 11th, 2001
People needed to voice there feelings in uncertain
times and search for information that mainstream
media was not providing.
3. The Beginning
The same bloggers eventually began to expand to
more general issues of politics like domestic and
foreign policy
Political elites began using bloggers in their political
campaigns
By 2004 9% of American internet users visited
political blogs at least “sometimes”
Any of you read them? Your thoughts?
4. Social Media
Now, nearly every politician has
Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and even blogs.
Lobbyists and Activism groups also create accounts
Social Media sites are now a big part of most political
fundraising campaigns
5. Obama in 2008
Barack Obama was trailblazing in his use of social
media for his 2008 Presidential Campaign.
In his campaign he utilized 15 different social media
sites including Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and
LinkedIn
Through his campaigns use of the sites, his campaign
created over 5 million supporters (Facebook
Friends, Twitter followers, etc.)
6. Obama v. McCain
Obama McCain
Facebook Supporters: Facebook Supporters:
2,379,102 620,359
Myspace Supporters: Myspace Supporters:
836,161 217,811
Funds Raised Through Funds Raised Through
August 31st, 2008: August 31st, 2008:
$456,853,990
$204,435,971
7. Obama v. McCain
Obama had 380% more supporters and raised over
twice as much money
For comparison, in 2004 Bush raised $256,081,557
and Kerry raised $215,915,455
Conclusion: Social Media = More Money
8. Public Politics
Now, more than ever, regular people can have a
strong political voice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrczoLm7Es
9. Technology Impacting Politics
In January 2012 Internet users and many major
websites fought back against PIPA and SOPA
The backlash indluded nearly 200,000 phone calls
(made via Craigslist and Tumblr), 7 million online
signatures (the Google petition), and over 2.4 million
tweets via Twitter.
Google, Mozilla, Reddit, O’Reilly
Radar, Wikipedia, and thousands of other Websites
protested the acts, including blacking out their Sites
10. Why This Matters
A loosely organized group of internet leaders and
internet users fought back and outwitted a well-
funded lobbying organization.
Convinced law-makers to overturn their decision
almost overnight
