Facebook has become a tool for both political doesn’t and political mobilization, so it comes as no surprise that a whopping 50% of all Facebook messages have politics as a theme. The findings are emerging from a study conducted by market researcher, Lab42, who wanted to gauge the sentiments of social media users as it relates to politics in the current landscape.
500 people considered hard-core social media users were polled and the findings gave some rather interesting insights about key issues affecting the 2012 elections. One stat to emerge for instance was that 67% of all social media users in the US voted for Barak Obama in the 2008 elections but only 51% of those who voted would vote for him this time round.
Another interesting stat to emerge from the study is that 36% of the people polled have changed their political opinion about someone purely through information found on Facebook or Twitter. This is interesting because it signals a shift in influence from traditional media to the growing machinery of social media. And since we know that mainstream media is pretty much controlled by ‘special interests’, it makes it a matter of urgency, to ensure the social media conversation isn’t dominated by these same interests. The 2012 campaign will be interesting to watch as social media has grown a lot since 2008.
Will Obama have a tough time on Facebook and Twitter this election campaign? Share your views with us below.
source: www.sitetrail.com/2011/11/26/50-of-facebook-users-are-politicians/
500 people considered hard-core social media users were polled and the findings gave some rather interesting insights about key issues affecting the 2012 elections. One stat to emerge for instance was that 67% of all social media users in the US voted for Barak Obama in the 2008 elections but only 51% of those who voted would vote for him this time round.Another interesting stat to emerge from the study is that 36% of the people polled have changed their political opinion about someone purely through information found on Facebook or Twitter. This is interesting because it signals a shift in influence from traditional media to the growing machinery of social media. And since we know that mainstream media is pretty much controlled by ‘special interests’, it makes it a matter of urgency, to ensure the social media conversation isn’t dominated by these same interests. The 2012 campaign will be interesting to watch as social media has grown a lot since 2008.
Will Obama have a tough time on Facebook and Twitter this election campaign? Share your views with us below.
source: www.sitetrail.com/2011/11/26/50-of-facebook-users-are-politicians/