On the Web, Obama Is the Clear Winner

He is miles ahead of Hillary Clinton when it comes to online organizing and fundraising. But does that translate into votes?

by Catherine Holahan

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has another place where she needs to catch up: the Web. Long before Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) began his impressive winning streak in the Democratic primaries, he was trouncing his opponents in their online efforts. Clinton's wins on Mar. 4 in Ohio and Texas may have staved off for now Obama's march to the candidacy. But he still has more than triple the number of supporters on social networks MySpace (NWS) and Facebook, according to techPresident, a nonpartisan blog that covers the 2008 candidates' Web presence. His YouTube (GOOG) videos, with more than 24 million plays a day in March, grab nearly three times more daily views than Clinton's own.

Perhaps most importantly, Obama's fundraising is outpacing Clinton's efforts, thanks largely to online donations. In January Obama raised $36 million, with about 80% coming from online (BusinessWeek.com, 1/17/08). Clinton raised $35 million in the same period, but didn't break out the online component. Pundits project Obama's yet-to-be released February figures will beat the $35 million Clinton raised in February, of which $30 million came from online, according to Peter Daou, the Clinton campaign’s Internet director.

Obama Campaign: Early Adopters

It's clear that this digital advantage is paying dividends. In prior Presidential elections the Web served as little more than another channel for candidates to broadcast their positions and collect donations. This year, however, social networking sites and new Web tools are enabling candidates to mobilize large groups to take action online, on the phone, and on the streets. "The tools are more powerful and there are more of them now," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "This is a more robust environment than ever before."

Obama's campaign decided early on that the Web needed to play an instrumental role in helping to organize large numbers of supporters, particularly as a counter to the influence the Clintons already had within the Democratic Party's inner circle, including with key delegates. "If we were going to do this and be successful it had to be from the bottom up," says Joe Rospars, director of new media for the Obama campaign. Rospars is the founding partner of the Washington (D.C.)-based Internet strategy firm, Blue State Digital, and worked on the Howard Dean campaign in 2004.

Obama has multiple teams involved in his online effort. There's a technology team that handles infrastructure and another that manages his new-media efforts, such as the design of his Web site and the tools provided to its users. He has a video team that shoots his speeches and interactions on the campaign trail and posts them to YouTube and Obama's blog, which is written by campaign members.

Rallying the Social Networks

There is also a person who manages the thousands of regional, demographic, and issue-oriented social networks on My.BarackObama.com, where users can start their own blogs about his campaign, organize regional events, and raise funds (BusinessWeek.com, 6/18/08). Another person manages the pro-Obama groups on Facebook and MySpace—more than 970,000 people have signed up between the two sites. "The campaign itself has tried to tap into the power of social networks but equally as striking is the way his supporters have self-organized and taken the initiative to support him," says Rainie.