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Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and long-shot Republican Rep. Ron
Paul of Texas may not be leading in national polls, but their
use of social networking Web sites tops their presidential rivals.
 Obama
has more Facebook and MySpace "friends" -- a feature
that lists supporters of the candidates -- than the other presidential
contenders, including about 100,000 more than his main Democratic
rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, N.Y., who leads in traditional voter
polls.
Almost every major Democratic and Republican candidate has built
Facebook and MySpace profiles, venturing into territory once reserved
for college students and young adults looking to connect with
their friends online. Candidates have personalized their profiles,
adding information ranging from lists of their favorite books
to campaign promises. And most have welcomed thousands of online
friends -- in Obama's case, nearly 250,000 supporters between
the two networks.
While gauging a candidate's success in online fund raising is
possible, with Obama again leading the pack, predicting whether
having the most online "friends" will translate into
support next year is a new phenomenon in the 2008 presidential
race.
"The Holy Grail in politics currently is how to convert online
enthusiasm into off-line action which results in votes,"
said Andrew Rasiej, a political analyst who runs the Web site
techPresident.com, a site that tracks how candidates use the Web
and how Internet users are affecting the elections. "There's
no demonstrative data that proves that online fervor is precipitous
in any way."
Despite the unknown significance of the social networks, Rasiej
said almost every campaign has staff members monitoring their
Facebook and MySpace pages, and the major candidates "have
one or two staff members paying attention to [their profiles]
full time."
Rasiej said there is little difference between Facebook and MySpace
to the candidates, although Facebook recently added a feature
allowing users to build applications, or new features, on their
profiles, potentially expanding candidates' ability to contact
supporters.
But the campaigns appear to be approaching social networking
differently with a variety of expectations.
Joe Rospars, Obama's director of new media, recently posted on
the campaign's Web site that the senator is taking the new medium
seriously, using it to attract and organize volunteers.
"We decided to make the attempt to combine the organic support
and community-building of [an online] grassroots effort with the
official campaign outreach efforts," Rospars wrote on the
Web site. He added that the campaign is hoping to reply to every
person who sends a message via the social networks.
 Ron
Paul, who has become known for his strong online support, takes
a more laissez-faire approach.
According to Jesse Benton, Paul's communications director, the
congressman's profiles are maintained by his grandchildren, which
he said adds a personal touch. Benton said the campaign also tries
to respond to each message but does not attempt to organize volunteers,
target a specific audience, or use the number of friends as an
indicator of voting patterns.
"We're not really trying to tightly manage how these social
networks are used," Benton said. "We're kind of letting
these tools shape as the Internet and our supporters demand. We're
just putting it out there and whoever is attracted [by] our message
and wants to network and talk about Ron Paul is welcome."
Paul leads his fellow Republican candidates in both Facebook
and MySpace friends.
Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of the
leading Republican candidates, is looking to Facebook and MySpace
for help with fund raising.
Stephen Smith, director of online communications for Romney,
said in a June 8 NewsHour report that the campaign is banking
on users learning about the former governor and then making a
donation through the social networks.
Smith said users who may be visiting Romney's site for the first
time "have the means right here, from that very moment, of
connecting with him, either learning more about his message, or
MySpace has a donation which it builds in right into the page
so they can start the contribution process with one click."
Rasiej, however, said he does not believe most campaigns have
recognized the full potential of social networking.
"Campaigns are spending some time, but not a lot of time,"
he said. "Campaigns, in general, want proof of concept, and
since there's no proof that these will turn into votes, they haven't
devoted a whole lot of energy."
But Rasiej said he believes social networking will likely work
similarly to word-of-mouth endorsements, which often do result
in votes. "I think we can pretty clearly surmise that Facebook
and MySpace offer a new way to endorsements," he said.
Rasiej also said social networking has the ability to generate
significant revenue for campaigns but not just by adding a donation
button to their Facebook or MySpace pages.
"Online fundraising is a complete misnomer. Money is a byproduct
of online communities, not the product, and social networks are
representative of the online communities," he said. "If
you want to raise money online by tapping into the fervor of these
online communities, then you should do everything you can to bolster
or nurture the community. It's so ludicrous that campaigns are
not paying more attention to the social networks.
-- By Brian Mason, Online NewsHour
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