The
Clickocracy
More Than Half of Americans Using
Internet for Political News and
Activities
By
Jose Antonio Vargas
For the first time, more than a half
the country's voting-age population
used the Internet to get political
news or get involved in the
political process in 2008.
A
report released today by the Pew
Internet & American Life Project,
based on a survey of 2,254 adults
interviewed, confirms what's more
than apparent to the online masses:
The Web is changing our political
life.
And
it's not just affecting how people
consume political information — it's
also impacting how they interact
with the political process. The
report signals the undeniable
emergence of what Lee Rainie, Pew
Internet's director, called a
growing "participatory
class" in an interview days
before the November election.
Among
some key findings, the report said:
-
45 percent of wired
Americans watched
political-related videos
online, with nearly half of
all 18 to 29 years olds
(Internet users and
non-users alike) having
watched online political
videos during the 2008
election cycle.
-
33 percent of online users
shared digital political
content with others, whether
by forwarding an e-mail or
sending links to a video or
a blog.
-
52 percent of users on
social networking sites used
those sites for political
means, which means
something as personal as
having a Facebook account
can be used for political
purposes.
Nothing in the report would surprise
anyone in online political circles —
say, the bloggers over at the
bipartisan
TechPresident.com, which covers
the intersection of technology and
politics. The report said that
President Barack Obama's supporters
were more engaged with his campaign
online than supporters of Sen. John
McCain; 26 percent of Obama
supporters posted their own original
content in an online forum compared
with 15 percent of McCain
supporters, and 15 percent of Obama
supporters contributed money online
while 6 percent of McCain supporters
did. The online gap between the two
candidates was evident throughout
the campaign cycle.
But
what's striking to some is that
while the number of people who
consider the Internet as a major
source of campaign news more than
doubled since 2000 — from 11 to 16
percent — television remains the
dominant news medium. Nearly 80
percent of those surveyed got most
of their campaign news from
television, with cable news shows
associated with their own political
slants (the liberal MSNBC and the
conservative FOX News) edging the
news networks and CNN.
"Reading the report, what struck me
is the movement of reading news
online and watching news on TV and
online that agree with you, this
increase partisanship that we're
seeing," said Morley Winograd,
co-author of Millennial Makeover:
MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of
American Politics and a fellow
at NDN, a liberal think tank that
has focused on the impact of new
media in politics. "This is just the
nature of the political era we're
living in."
Look
for yourself at the coverage of the
Tax Day Tea Parties, in cable in
TV (MSNBC v. FOX) and online (the
liberal
DailyKos.com vs. the
conservative
RedState.com).
According to Pew Internet, 26
percent of online news consumers
said they typically seek out
political information online from
sites that share their point of view
in 2004. Four years later, that
figure is up to 33 percent, at least
one-third.
This
is one in a series of online columns
on our growing "clickocracy," in
which we are one nation under
Google, with e-mail and video for
all. Please send suggestions,
comments and tips to
vargasj@washpost.com.
