The Battle for the Internets!

In recent years, many politicians have taken advantage of the many tools available online to communicate and spread their message. It wasn’t too long ago when W. was saying “the Internets” and GOP tech savvy was the butt of many jokes. So for a long time it seemed as if the Democrats had a monopoly on being internet savvy, but have Republicans caught up? When it comes to politics, which party dominates the internet?

The 2008 Presidential election was a wake up call from the GOP. While Obama built a huge following on the internet and on various social networks, John McCain admitted openly that he didn’t even know how to use a computer!

This was in a recent CNN article:

“from what we have observed from the short life of the web, opening one's site to the capricious innovations of grass-roots users can be enormously beneficial but hard to control. Conservatives may one day embrace the participatory web en masse. However, the very structure of the internet as a decentralized grouping of communities may never appeal to the large portion of right-wingers who prefer military-style hierarchies and commanding leaders. And, as years go by without a conservative social-media pioneer or a top-ranked website, it looks as though the internet has already chosen a side.”

So liberals seem to think that they have won the Battle, but have they really? When it comes to Social Media, Republicans seem to have learned very quickly. Former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney now has over 350,000 people who like him on Facebook. And as a side-by-side comparison House Minority Leader John Boehner has about 75,000 fans vs Majority Leader Pelosi’s 20,000. And the “Impeach Pelosi” page is liked by over 80,000.

And this is from Mother Jones, an independent, non-profit magazine:

Status Update: The GOP Became a Fan of Social Media

…as of January 2010, only 34 percent of Democratic House members were on Facebook and only 20 percent had hit Twitter. Meanwhile, since January 2009, the percentage of House Republicans using Facebook has jumped from 37 percent to 79 percent (as of early April). Sixty-four percent of these GOPers are on Twitter, compared with 28 percent in January last year. And 89 percent now have a YouTube channel, compared with 56 percent last year. “We’re getting to the point where we’ve leapfrogged the majority party." With 2010 shaping up as a potentially tough year for the Democrats, they can ill afford to be out-tweeted.

So who do you think has won the battle, and will it make a difference? I think it will!