The Vote: A Victory for Social Media, Too

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Twitter Reminders

"Is Obama nervous about Virginia? I received two text messages in the past 10 minutes telling me to vote. Enough already!" wrote Twitter user Robert Bluey at about 6:30 p.m. ET from the hotly contested state of Virginia. He referred to messages sent throughout the day to voters who had registered to receive text messages on their mobile phones. The missives implored them to vote and to exercise what influence they could on friends and family: ""People who love their country can change it! …Make sure everyone you know votes for Barack today."

Social media also made it easy for some voters to express their frustration with aspects of the electoral process. "I bet we'll see stories on election irregularities broken via social networks," says Josh Bernoff, a vice-president at Forrester Research (FORR). On sites like Election Protection, created by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and other partners, voters phoned in and e-mailed reports about various problems they encountered: malfunctioning machines in Florida, ballot shortages in Virginia, and absentee ballots delivered belatedly in Georgia.

Anyone surveying the digital political landscape would have to be struck by the apparent strength of Democrats online. A Forrester report from last December found Democrats to be at least 10% more likely to participate in all forms of online social activity than the average U.S. adult. Yet even though fewer Republicans bother to consume social media than Democrats, nearly half of GOP members are social media regulars, Forrester found.

Lighter Side

No one, however, accused online election activity of being all serious, all the time. In a campaign season that featured lighter moments, like the widely circulated YouTube video "I Have a Crush on Obama," Nov. 4 was no exception. In the morning, CNN reported that "Naked Cowboy," the guitar-player-in-skivvies who occupies Times Square, pledged an endorsement for McCain—and the story become one of the "hot topics" on Twitter's election page. In the virtual world Second Life, avatars crowded into election-related islands and parties and awaited election results.

Part of the social media frenzy over the Presidential election is a reflection of the historical significance of the first African American running for U.S. President during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and while the nation is engaged in unpopular wars in two countries. That mood was captured by one Facebook user who updated his status as Obama began his acceptance speech: "Yes we did," he posted, echoing the President-elect's campaign slogan, "Yes We Can."

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com. Douglas MacMillan is a staff writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York. Kharif is a senior writer for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore.