Which Candidate Are You "Friends" With?

According to data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 37% of the adult population, or roughly 75 million Americans, used the internet as a resource for the 2004 election. 18% of registered voters listed the internet as their primary source of information, a number that is up 7% from data compiled for the 2000 election. Uses for internet listed by the survey included things like discussing candidates through e-mail, getting news and information on candidates, volunteering time and donating money to campaigns. (For more info check this out.)

No one uses the internet quite like the nation's young people. With the rise of Facebook, YouTube, AIM, and MySpace, young people more then ever are using the internet to communicate with peers and voice their opinions. A survey conducted by the Harvard IOP found that an astonishing 82% of students at four-year colleges and 62% of non-college 18-24 year olds had been on Facebook in a two day period. Of those with Facebook pages, 41% say they have used Facebook to promote a political candidate, event or idea.

Taking note of this growing trend, candidates now use the sites to help with their campaigns. All of the major 2008 candidates have set-up MySpace pages that are being used both to help get their name out but also to give their campaigns a more personal feel.

While there’s no way to predict the impact the internet will have in the 2008 election, it can only be assumed that the internet will play some type of role in the selection of our future president.