The Internet Gets America’s Vote
A lot can change in four years. According to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the number of people who used the Internet as their main source of information about the 2006 midterm elections more than doubled from the last round of midterm elections in 2002.
In 2002, only 7 percent of people got the bulk of their campaign news from the Net, according to Pew. By November of 2006, in a historic election that saw Democrats regain the Senate and the House after 12 years out of power, some 15 percent of American adults had turned to the Net as their chief source of news.
In addition, a large number of Americans not only read about the campaigns but wrote about them as well. According to the Pew survey, 8 percent of respondents posted their thoughts to a newsgroup, Web site, or blog. Even more — 13 percent — reposted another person’s comments or forwarded them to friends and colleagues. In all, roughly 14 million people used what Pew calls the “read-write Web” to add their voice to the national debate in one form or another.
“It’s people sort of taking charge of the civic discussion in ways that they haven’t been able to before,” said Pew director and study leader Lee Rainie.
YouTube Years
Bloggers, YouTubers, MySpacers, and Diggers. The rise of Web 2.0, in which Web users not only receive content but also generate it, is seeping into politics.
“Everything we hear from users, and particularly from content creators, is that they feel empowered,” said Rainie. “They feel that they’re participating in a way that they haven’t been able to before, that they have a right to enter their voice and enter their thoughts in the political process, in ways that aren’t blocked by gatekeepers or reinterpreted by…
