Mediaboss Marketing

By Dana Hull, San Jose Mercury News

Microphones by American flag

A new report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found an explosive growth in political activity on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter from 2008 to 2012.

In 2008, 26 percent of American adults used social networking sites of any kind. Four years later, 39 percent of Americans used social networking sites specifically for political activity, from following candidates, encouraging friends to vote or posting and sharing political stories and articles.

"More people used social networking sites for political activity in 2012 than used it at all in 2008," said Aaron Smith, a senior researcher at Pew and author "Civic Engagement in the Digital Age," a 61-page report. "There was enormous growth in overall usage for political activity."

One example: in 2008, just 3 percent of adults posted political stories or links on social networking sites. By 2012, that had jumped to 17 percent, a sixfold increase.

The explosion in online political activity comes as a growing number of adults use social media. Pew has found that 60 percent of all U.S. adults now use some sort of social networking platform, up from 26 percent in 2008. That's a remarkable jump given that San Francisco-based Twitter didn't exist until 2006. During President Barack Obama's February State of the Union address, Twitter reported that there were 1.36 million tweets, with much of the chatter focusing on the middle class and minimum wage, gun control and education.

Previously, Pew has found that 81 percent of American adults are Internet users -- which means that roughly 20 percent, or 1 in 5, are still not online at all. Its latest report found that the digital divide is still stark, particularly along class and education lines. Many hoped that the rise of Internet-connected smartphones, as well as the popularity of fast-growing sites such as Twitter and Facebook, would help ease that gap.

But those with high incomes and college or graduate-level educations are consistently more likely than those with low income and education levels to take part in civic or political activities, whether online or offline.

See the rest here:
Report: Social networking sites playing more prominent role in politics