STL Social Media Guy

The obvious news from Pew’s latest study is the huge increase in the percentage of people using the Internet to get information about politics — that number is 46 percent. So far, the study says, “more Americans have gone online to get political news and campaign information than during all of 2004.”

And the “real” election season is only just beginning.

But I was more interested in this sentence from the study’s summary: “Two-thirds of Internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.” (Emphasis is mine.)

They are likely to be the people who will be running for office and among the largest voting bloc in the next election season. These are also the same people who aren’t reading newspapers, but are well-informed people, interested in their world, and seeking news.

Here’s the bad news from the Pew study: Internet users have mixed views about the general role of the Internet in politics. Here’s what researchers found about these questions:

Sixty percent agree that “the Internet is full of misinformation and propaganda that too many voters believe is accurate.” (32 percent disagree)

People are closely split on this: “the news and information you get online is just the same as you can get anywhere else.” (48 percent agree, 47 percent disagree)

Happily, 56 percent disagree with this: “The Internet lets those with the loudest voices and most extreme positions drown out average people’s views.)

But sadly, 67 percent disagree with this: “The Internet helps me feel more personally connected to my candidate or campaign of choice.”

And, though I’m not sure I believe this, 74 percent disagree with this statement: “I would not be as involved in this campaign as much if it weren’t for the Internet.”

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