centralized or not, 25,000+ people on a facebook group alone is pretty impressive.
"Impressive" in what sense?
That 25,000 people felt excited and motivated enough to join a group. It's just a click or two, but it does show that the message/movement is impacting or is powered by a large number of people who are decentralized.
I think that's right. The question is: what is the source of the excitement and motivation? Is it something Obama has said or done? If not, what is the value of the "impression"?
To a certain degree this is simply a chicken or egg question... I think perhaps the most interesting thing to note is that Obama himself tries to answer this question at almost every outing, most notably in NH.
I suppose for it to be chicken or egg, there would at least have to be something that Obama supporters could point to that he has said or done that provides the basis of their excitement.
How does Obama try to answer this question?
I forget how far through the video he discusses "hype" but you can see it here:
http://www.barackobama.com/media/new_ham pshire_celebration/
Thanks for the link.
(i help blog for runobama.com)
Facebook, what is the percent of underage voters?
You have to have a college email to even register, so the vast majority of these people will be able to vote. And if they're this excited now, just imagine what they'll be like come 2008.
In 2006, we found Facebook to be a tremendously effective organizing tool for our GOTV efforts (mostly for Jim Esch (NE-02), who ran a volunteer-driven and youth-based outsider campaign). Facebook had an "Election Pulse" feature that allowed you to show your support for a candidate. Jim got about 70% of the Facebook vote. He lost the general election with 45% of the overall vote. I don't know how well those numbers line up (there was no exit polling on the race), but there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for the campaign among youth, and Facebook accurately reflected that.
I think Obama's support on Facebook is a good measure of how much support he enjoys among youth. One of the reasons I support him is that I believe he will energize my generation in a way that others cannot.
