Politics and Social Networking: A Relationship to Watch

If you’ve taken a look at your news feed, it’s not news to you that social networking has become a large part of how Internet users are interacting with one another about politics. It has ventured from the comment section of major publications onto our Twitter, Facebook and even LinkedIn feeds. During the 2012 Presidential election, over 35% of people reported to have communicated about a particular candidate or party on a social networking site. This is up from just 20% during the 2008 election, according to Pew Research. Additionally, during the 2012 election, 22% of registered voters (skewing young) announced on a social network for whom they voted.

But what do social media platforms do to influence voters? Apparently, quite a bit. Pew Research found that 30% of registered voters have been encouraged to vote for Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney. Additionally, the two candidates (and many regional and national political figures who support them) have established social communication networks. The White House has led the social-political revolution in the last five years by instating a full-time in-house team and utilizing Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as a forum to speak with constituents. Gone are the days where we wrote letters to Congress and waited for a form letter back thanking us for voicing our opinions and concerns. We’re now able to talk in real-time with decision makers.

The ways in which political leaders and their street teams are speaking with voters has completely changed. In addition to social networking, politicians and their backers are able to connect with voters via email, paid search campaigns and social advertising. This is all in conjunction with the already heavy rotation of political TV ads and billboards. There is a dramatically increasing opportunity for politicians and their teams to make a social play. The shareability of the content is evident, as the amount of adults on social networks that posted links to political stories increased 6-fold from 2008 to 2012. Politics has gone from inappropriate dinner conversation to a permanent fixture on social networking sites on our mobile phones, tablets and PCs. The question is: how will politicians leverage this trend to educate their constituents?