Obama's Health Care Message Hard to Control Online

The president's Twitter feed is hugely popular, with more than 2 million followers. Funny White House photos of the first family wearing 3-D glasses went viral after the White House posted them to Flickr. And he's the first president who commonly addresses the nation on YouTube.

Many pundits have argued Obama's mastery of online social networks and his image as a BlackBerry-addicted, tech-hip person helped win him the U.S. presidency in January.

So if the Obama Administration is so Internet savvy, what's happening with health care?

Online Politics Reserved for the Rich?

US civic engagement remains in the hands of the middle-class despite hopes that the internet would democratise political involvement.

Those are the findings of a report from the Pew Internet Project.

Online political engagement such as contacting officials, signing petitions and making donations is skewed towards richer and better educated Americans.

Four Tools for Managing Twitter Followers

I’m not sure why Twitter makes it difficult to manage followers within their own site, but fortunately there are several 3rd party options available. I’ve been playing around with these applications, and a lot are a waste of time in my opinion.

However, the ones below, are the few that I found to be useful and that actually work. 

Whenever the Pew Internet and American Life Project releases a study, I drop what I'm doing and pay attention, because I know it's going to be good.

Their most recent report, The Internet's Role in Campaign 2008 is no exception. Here are the highlights:

* Some 74% of internet users--representing 55% of the entire adult population--went online in 2008 to get involved in the political process or to get news and information about the election.

* 45% of internet users watched online video.

* One in three internet users forwarded political content to others.

* Fully 83% of those age 18-24 have a social networking profile, and two-thirds of young profile owners took part in some form of political activity on these sites in 2008.

Wow. Let's let those number sink in for a minute.

Ok, now pick your jaw up off the floor and let's move past the executive summary.

Newspapers and Radio Lose - the Internet Wins
26% of adult Americans get most of their news online, almost equal to the 28% who read dead-tree papers. But TV still dominates the media landscape with over 70% of adults tuning in.

The biggest loser for share of audience to the Internet over the past 12 years has been newspapers and radio to a less extent.

More McCain than Obama Supporters Online
Here's something you don't hear everyday:

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate John McCain were more likely than backers of Barack Obama to be internet users (83% vs. 76%).

This is attributed to Republican voters being better educated and wealthier. I guess there goes the conventional wisdom that Republicans don't use the Internet.

Older Americans Sharing Content
I often hear how older voters, don't use the Internet. While it's true, only 22% of Americans 65 and older are online - of that segment currently online a surprising 40% watch online video and a whooping 47% share/forward political news. That's the highest of any other age group.

Engaging the Conversation
One in five Internet users post political news online, primarily on social networks and this activity is dominated by young people. In the 18-29 year old demographic, 49% engage in politics on socnets and 40% post content.

Two Quick Lessons to Learn
1) If you want to reach young people, get your content on social network sites. Period.

2) If you want to reach older users - compelling emails and videos that make them want to share your content, is the strategy to follow.

A tipster passes along a new Pew Research Center study titled, "Social Networking and Videos Take Off: Internet's Broader Role in Campaign 2008." [Download study as PDF here.]

There are some excellent nuggets in the survey and I would urge others to dig through the report and add them to the comments of this post.

Here are a few that I found in a brief first-read:

The internet is living up to its potential as a major source for news about the presidential campaign. Nearly a quarter of Americans (24%) say they regularly learn something about the campaign from the internet, almost the double the percentage from a comparable point in the 2004 campaign (13%).

Moreover, the internet has now become a leading source of campaign news for young people and the role of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook is a notable part of the story. Fully 42% of those ages 18 to 29 say they regularly learn about the campaign from the internet, the highest percentage for any news source. In January 2004, just 20% of young people said they routinely got campaign news from the internet.

Of note, TV is still on top as the main source for news, but slipping…

Despite the growth of the internet for campaign news, television remains the public’s main source for such information. However, television is not as dominant as at once was: 60% say they get most of their news about the presidential election from television (local, cable and network outlets combined), down from 68% at comparable points in the 2004 and 2000 campaigns.

By this measure, the internet is still a secondary news source. Only 15% of Americans say they get most of their news about the election online, although that figure has more than doubled since 2004 (from 6%).

Overall, 26% of Americans mention the internet either first or second as their main source of election news. Among young people, the internet is eroding television’s advantage as a main source for election news. Six-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 cite television as their main source for election news, down from 75% four years ago. Over that time, the proportion citing the internet has more than doubled – from 21% to 46%.

Revolution.

A tipster passed along this link to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's first major report on online video. [Full report -- PDF]

The report offers credible, empirical support for something everyone reading this space has known for a while: online video is big, important, and something "we" need to be doing early and often.

You can dig in to the report to find interesting nuggets, but here are a few that jumped out at me which I'll be including in my next PowerPoint presentation:

As apparent by the chart below, the online video community and culture - though used widely by Gen Nexters - plays a growing role for those over the age of 29. Everyone online is receiving links, sharing links, and calling over their colleagues and friends to watch a video that they've received. You can also see that the minority of users who rate and comment on videos are Gen Nexters (18-29) which likely explains why most of my videos have only a few ratings and comments -- even when I ask for them incessantly.

Another key point which really jumps out at me:

Amateur vs. Professional: What do users prefer?

Most online video viewers prefer professionally-produced video over content “produced by amateurs.” However, the segments that do express a preference for amateur content or say they like both genres equally is sizable, and those who are among the most coveted viewers by advertisers (men ages 18-29) are the most likely to express a preference for amateur video.

Overall, 62% of online video viewers say that their favorite videos are those that are professionally produced, while 19% of online video viewers express a preference for amateur content. Another 11% say they enjoy both professionally-produced video and amateur online video equally.

Overall, another great and helpful report by Pew. Make sure you print it out and give it to the next Republican politician you see.

On the sticky note write, "Here's proof that there's a Revolution happening."