Wolf Tracking

This week the news you can’t avoid is the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where Barack Obama and Joe Biden will formally accept their party’s nomination for president.  The arenas they’re speaking in are filled with screaming delegates, but the real momentum behind their campaign is hidden from view: their online supporters.

Howard Dean’s 2004 primary campaign is widely credited with being the first to realize the full potential of the Internet as a political tool, using sites like Meetup.com to gather supporters and raising money through a large number of small donations.  A lot has changed on the Web since that time, but the strategy Dean employed is as relevant as ever.  Barack Obama has used the Internet to raise more money than any candidate in history, and launched his own social network to gather supporters rather than rely on third party sites.

Not that the other social networks have hurt his cause, though.  On Facebook, which first appeared three weeks after Dean screamed, Barack Obama now has over 1.4 million supporters and has used that platform to inform them of local events and stunts like his “be the first to know” VP selection stunt.

In striking contrast to Obama’s online success, John McCain and the Republicans have looked like a band of Luddites.  It doesn’t help that McCain admitted in July that he’s just now “learning to get online” by himself and “never felt the particular need to email.”  A quick look at the numbers is striking:

• Facebook supporters: Obama 1.4 million, McCain 225,000 (and for what it’s worth, I couldn’t even find an official page for George W. Bush)
• Proportion of Obama’s funds raised by online donors: 88 percent
• Proportion of Obama donations that are $200 or less (more likely to be made online): 93 percent (McCain campaign declined to release their figure)
• Unintentional comedy rating of McCain’s video introduction on his official social network McCainspace.com, where he looks uncomfortable even saying “social network”: 97.5 out of 100

This is where you say” “OK, I get it, but the Democrats will always attract the younger voters, and they’re the only ones who use the Internet and social networks.”  Firstly, that’s not completely accurate.  According to Pew, 73 percent of ALL adults use the Internet, including 70 percent of 50-64 year olds which make up a significant voting block.  comScore also found that more than half of all MySpace users are over 35.

Secondly, as we in the PR business well know, the Internet represents the future of media.  With each passing year a larger percentage of the American public is logging on and relying on the Internet for their information, and if the Republicans don’t start evening the playing field quickly (like leapfrogging the Dems on mobile strategy), 2012 will be a tough election for them no matter who’s in the Oval Office.