There's plenty out there

Online video-sharing and social networking are playing a growing role in the American electoral climate.

Sites across the web are using entertainment, data and engagement techniques to encourage users to cast their votes. Some of the work is satirical, like the Nobama-sponsored Obama cartoon featured at the left of this article, or the user-generated McCain ad to the right of it.

Overall, what's out there is a snapshot of how the zeitgeist interprets — and reinterprets — the political atmosphere as Nov. 4 draws near.

Online Video

Seven days into 2008, eMarketer predicted YouTube would "decide" the outcome of the November Presidential elections, whether through sponsored debates or popular user-submitted clips that embarrass or laud the leading candidate.

Many of the most impactful YouTube clips were positive, campaign-oriented efforts like the celebrity-laden "Yes We Can" music video (over 10 million views with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars); or professional broadcasts, like Gov. Sarah Palin's first ABC interview, which attracted as many online viewers as it did on TV (about 2.8 million views across multiple uploads of the broadcast).

"Yes We Can," a celebrity tribute to Sen. Obama:

Gov. Palin's ABC News interview with Charles Gibson:

YouTube also emerged as a way for people to review key campaign moments. Sen. Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech, for example, drew nearly five million views.

Between himself and Sen. John McCain, Obama dominates online video consumption, according to an analysis by the UTubeBlog. From total views to number of subscribers on You Choose '08 — the presidential election channel that launched in March '07 — Obama wins by a landslide. Liaisons with niche sites like iVillage, which is broadcasting exclusive Obama campaign coverage, may also make an effect on video-viewers.

But Palin — or her likeness, in any case — is fast becoming an online video favorite.

Tina Fey's Saturday Night Live portrayals of the Alaskan governor enjoyed more hits on the web than on television. 51 percent of viewers saw at least one of the skits over the 'net, with YouTube serving over 23 percent (11.7 million views across multiple uploads), followed by NBC.com (17 percent) and Hulu (four percent). Palin has also inspired a great many sites and memes, mostly of a satirical nature.

As a demonstration to how the Palin factor may affect the overall race, Palin's acceptance speech for the position of VP on the Republican ticket drew nearly as many network TV views as Obama's acceptance speech for President on the Democratic ticket. Both broadcasts were pirated on YouTube, where they drew approximately 860,469 and 2.2 million views, respectively.

Mobile

A February report found mobile advertising can affect voter attitudes and behavior. Text messaging made a dramatic foray into politics this year, when Sen. Hillary Clinton, for example, leaned hard on text-based efforts to win favor for the Presidential nomination on the Democratic ticket.

But the Obama campaign probably conducted the most prominent mobile efforts during this election cycle. Over the summer, users were invited to provide their mobile numbers on BarackObama.com in order to be among the "first to know" about Obama's VP pick. Response to that effort was generally positive.

Today the campaign launched an iPhone app, enabling Obama fans to band together, keep abreast of breaking news and circulate local events.

McCain's campaign has done little in the way of mobile marketing — no great lament, however, given that statistics claim mobile is better for reaching Democrats than reaching Republicans.

Search

McCain outspent Obama 22-to-1 in search advertising in August. One analysis observed McCain's search ads are generally also more targeted than Obama's, though neither did especially well.

Both candidates are well-supported by organic listings; overall, however, official Obama sites still generate six times more traffic than McCain's do.

Social Networking

More than a year ago, MySpace, banking on its social networking capabilities as being a key tool for the election, added a political channel with voting info and links to candidates' MySpace pages and blogs.

Loath to be outdone, Gather.com — the social network for the over-30 crew — launched Create Debate, a forum where everyday people can submit questions to candidates to answer at leisure.

Facebook let loose its own 2008 Presidential Election application, with election news updates and debate groups. Through a partnership with ABC, the socnet's youthful user base can follow reporters' articles, videos, and blog posts from the campaign trail.

Data-Aggregating Sites

Few predicted how many data-aggregating sites would pop up to organize the political data spilling over the wires. A few examples:

• Google's In Quotes lets users run queries for issues like "recession" or "energy," then see what Obama or McCain have said about them in interviews or statements.
• The Economist's global electoral college gives countries around the globe a certain number of electoral ballots and lets them "vote" in the election. Countries are represented as either red or blue, depending on whether the constituency favored McCain or Obama. While most Americans probably won't care much which candidate Sri Lanka preferred, the ultimate "global winner" (determined before Nov. 4) may impact the vote for some.
• CreateDebate.com, a chaotic site that lets people contribute to debates through a number of polls. Winners are determined by points, though it isn't clear how the scorecards for each side are awarded.
• Still uncertain about who to vote for? Glassbooth's quiz-based interface helps people select candidates based on issues they think are important. Unlike other "pick-a-candidate" websites, Glassbooth makes users pick priorities at outset. If you don't care about education, for example, you won't be asked questions about it.
• Election.twitter.com. The subsite aggregates live "Tweets" about the election, including thoughts, reactions and observations. Immediately after the Palin-Biden debate, for instance, the page was deluged with comments about what transpired, offering a gut-based alternative to the network channels' post-debate pundits.