The 2008 Presidential campaign is the first ever to feel the effects of Web 2.0 and the burgeoning of social media. Oh, and by the way, the Barack Obama campaign is making the John McCain campaign look silly (a full comparison for each social network is listed below).
I mean I can understand to an extent the Republican Party candidate's unwillingness to utilize the Internet as a major marketing channel since a Democrat (Al Gore) did invent the thing. At least we've recently learned McCain is "aware that there is the Internet," this according to McCain's deputy e-campaign Director Mark SooHoo from a from June 27 BusinessWeek article.
Anyway, enough banter, let's get to the hard facts. If you don't believe social media is impacting the 2008 Presidential race in any way just look at online fundraising. Obama is said to have raised over $200 million online (Business Week; June 27, 2008) while McCain's figures haven't been accurately listed, the best number I've seen is $30 million (there are some reports of higher, but these are said to include direct marketing channels such as telemarketing). If the $170 million chasm is accurate that alone is a telling statement of the difference between the two campaigns and the impact of the Internet.
Want more proof? Just look at the key stats of how McCain and Obama differ on the major social networks as of July 22, 2008. TechPresident.com is keeping the latest stats on a few of these categories.
- Facebook: Over 1,184,000 supporters for Obama to just over 175,500 for McCain (by the way, who picked that picture of McCain for his Facebook group? It looks like he is on an episode of 24 making an emergency call to Jack Bauer). Obama's page has three times more followers then any other group page on Facebook. There's also an unofficial group Students for Obama that has 113,000 supporters of its own.
- MySpace: 427,355 for Obama to 59,664 for McCain.
- YouTube views: 56,200,000 plus video views for Obama to 4,500,000 plus for McCain.
- YouTube subscribers: 63,514 for Obama to 7,757 for McCain.
- Twitter: 48,801 followers for Obama to 0 for McCain. Yes, McCain is not even on Twitter although there is a McCainNews (914 followers) and a FakeJohnMcCain. The Obama camp could certainly do much more on Twitter. There is less than one tweet a day (many advise 5 - 10 a day) meaning many of these are lost in people's time stream, there is good linking, but no conversation (not responding to other tweets). Considering Obama has the third most followers on Twitter, according to Twitterholic, he really should be doing more with this powerful audience of online influencers.
- Flickr: 21,000 photos to 95 photos.
- Digg: Over 114,000 profile views to 0. McCain clearly doesn't digg it (because he's not here although a fake John McCain is once again present).
- Own Online Community: Over 900,000 registered members for My.BarackObama.Com to an undeclared total for McCainSpace (insert whatever cheesy comment you want right here regarding that name).
That's a social spanking if I've ever seen one. Apparently the only thing Barack Obama doesn't own, social media wise, is his own name on gmail. So is it web strategy making Obama the social media darling or is it fundamental differences between Democratic and Republican supporters?
Ad Age suggested "Political commentators believe Barack Obama is more popular with web surfers because his followers are younger, and young people are more likely to use blogs, social networks and other new media. That may be true, but it's far from the only reason he's faring well. Obama's campaign is immersed in his audience's experience. He meets his audience where they already go on the web, and his message of "change" is packaged in a clear and consistent manner, much like the best consumer products."
It appears that party affiliation and age are not the only reason Obama wins online. Yes, web strategy does play a huge role, but that doesn't answer the whole question either. How did McCain go from a web savvy presidential candidate hopeful in 2000 to someone who looks like he is now lost in the dark without a flashlight?
The Internet has fundamentally changed with the advent and mass adoption of first Google and then Facebook and its brethren. People are not only empowered to quickly find information, but to now contribute.
You have to have a presence everywhere and Obama is everywhere online. Not just the major social media already listed, but also on BlackPlanet, AsainAve and a litany of others. If there is a conversation taking place in social media you can be sure that Barack Obama's campaign is officially involved. Understanding that it is a conversation not a one way flow of information is critical as well. Provide people with a real conversation, let them in and keep them coming back with rich media and ways to show their affiliation with you. Find ways to make the conversation relevant to particular segments.
Obama's campaign also differs from that of McCain in not only its want to involve social media, but in its collective cross-promotion and online fundraising. Go to Obama's YouTube page and right there you can donate to the campaign via Google Checkout. Go to Obama's home page and all of his social networking links are listed right there. As for McCain... well, you can find out that he is on YouTube and Veoh if you land on the multimedia page of his site. Other than that, you are out of luck.
The 2008 presidential campaign will be decided on votes not Facebook friends, but the McCain team's unwillingness to connect one to the other has already proven undeniably costly in fundraising and no doubt represents the last of the "old" Presidential campaigns to not full embrace social media. As it turns out, the Internet is here to stay and things will never be the same.
