Politics and Social Networks: Voters Make the Connection

What's surprised her most about all the blogging and networking, she says, was her ability to reach out to people whom she did not know, especially Clinton supporters who were reluctant to back Obama. "In my discussions, I allowed them to express their disappointment and then reminded them that what both Hillary and Barack were doing in their campaigns is bigger than the candidates," she says. "And to be honest, the Sarah Palin announcement finished the job."

Over at Swamp Bubbles, the community blog that Myers created in January 2007, liberal voices often challenge Myers, a conservative Republican. The site is a free-for-all, open to anyone who wants to blog about northwest Ohio politics.

It's a mixed bunch, "with some people leaning to the right, some to the left, some who are just plain nuts," he says. With the looming election, the site's traffic has doubled, from about 1,000 unique visitors a day to more than 2,000 in the past month. The site is not a money-maker. It doesn't have any ads, and Myers, a webmaster for the University of Michigan, pays $30 a month to keep the site running. While his own center-right views are hard to miss, Myers says he doesn't censor postings from those who disagree with him.

Linking to a Rasmussen poll, Myers wrote on Sept. 5: "Following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters."

To which Pink Slip, another blogger on the site and a frequent nemesis of Myers, mockingly echoed a shot the McCain campaign had taken at Obama: "Wow -- she's quite the 'celebrity' now. Does that put her on par with Paris Hilton and Brittany [sic] Spears?"

Myers welcomes that virtual tit for tat.

"Look, I may not agree with Pink Slip -- I don't know what his or her real name is -- but sometimes Pink Slip makes comments that are good counterpoints that I haven't considered," he says. "In my everyday life -- my offline life -- I'm not in conversation with way far left people. On my site, I am."

In 1995, Robert Putnam, a political scientist at Harvard University, wrote the controversial essay "Bowling Alone," in which he argued that membership in civic organizations is declining and that this trend weakens our democracy. But the Internet, particularly social networks, has redefined networking, says Rory O'Connor, a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. "Online, what we have are looser but more extensive networks. I'm 50 years old and I'm on Facebook with people I went to grade school with. Online, you have more people in your social network, and to a certain extent, you trust them. You get exposed to more points of view."

Reaching Out

Four years ago, participating in a campaign online meant sending e-mail chains and planning e-mail campaigns. Now, it can be much more, from live-blogging an event for others who can't be there to creating YouTube videos.

This transformation is not controlled by the campaigns. Sure, McCain and Obama have their own socnets -- McCainSpace and MyBarackObama-- but that doesn't guarantee that supporters will sign up. You don't need permission -- or any formal affiliation with the campaign -- to get involved.

On Swamp Bubbles, Myers rarely blogged about McCain, even after he clinched the nomination. He felt guilty about this at first. "The traditional party structure is, 'Here's our nominee, fall in line,' " Myers says. But on his site, at least, not many conservatives did. "I have to be honest: That made me feel good. It meant that I wasn't alone in not being sold on McCain." He didn't volunteer for the campaign -- something he did for George W. Bush starting in June 2004.

That changed when Palin joined the ticket. Now he's made calls on behalf of Palin, the first time he's done that all year. This past weekend, he went canvassing, another first.