The Effect of Social Networking Sites and the 2012 Election
Unlike the 2008 elections, the 2012 elections have seen a significantly higher use of social networking sites and online media campaigning. For the past couple of months Facebook, You Tube, Google, and Twitter have been bombarding people with and friends alike with various campaign gimmicks and messages in order to sway a voter one way or another, and when the dust settles it will be curious to see which if any of these websites played an influential role in helping one candidate or the other. One thing I can say is that it has certainly made the proliferation of information much easier, and perhaps this has made the voter’s job easier but it has certainly changed the game for the politicians.
If one thing is for certain, the 2012 elections have been considerable windfall for many of these social networking sites. Although I’m uncertain of the prices for advertisements, I’m sure the traffic level alone could be comparable to that of the super bowl and has helped to boost the profit streams of many of these networking sites. As we’ve learned in class the click through rates on many of these sites is an important determinant for ranking advertising slots and I’m sure the election has helped to drive traffic through many of these advertisements. Regardless of the results tonight, both the platform of advertising and the platform of politics have been altered to reflect our growing dependence on the internet.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-06/how-the-election-looks-on-the-internet
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Politics-on-SNS/Summary-of-Findings.aspx