It may be an accurate gage of support but what kind of support. From Matt's description of the conference call I feel that for a brief period now, politics is "cool". Especially since Obama is charismatic and much like a hollywood celebrity. That's a good thing in just about all respects I suppose but I don't it portends well for how active or useful these facebook people will be. What if they decide that politics is boring or that going door-to-door when it's 35 degrees outside isn't their cup of tea when they could be playing playstation instead?

I don't mean to sound to cynical about this (but actually I do), surely just the shear numbers of people that are interested will generate many more new good activists than would have been around otherwise. But when you make this statement,
"Could it be that Obama's freshness is due to fatigue from both Bush and Clinton?" then you have to realize that we have a lot of work to do to educate these kids that there were reasons for the vitriol of the 90s. Ideology does matter. It's not just about "getting things done" blah blah happy talk. There are real differences in what the modern GOP stands for and I dare say most of what they stand for is dangerous to the well-being of the vast majority of people in this society (and on earth for that matter). Just look at Patrick McHenry's speeches for an example.

So yes, it's great young people are interested (although whether they are in for the long-haul is an open question). But I think they'll need some on-going education if they're going to be more than what Lenin termed... well, you know what he termed people like that.  

Your point about the Pluto Demotion group kinda minimizes the impact of the Obama group doesn't it?  How big is the Family Guy group these days?

For the most part, probably not. I know that it's open to everyone, but I still think it's largely dominated by college students (and to high schoolers to a certain extent). Perhaps there's a whole outer social network I'm missing, but I would say that it wouldn't interest you that much. Just my $.02...Stoller, Jerome, and quite a few folks from around the netroots have profiles.

I'm 29 and am an undergrad after leaving the military. Facebook is kind of necessary for me in order to stay in touch with and communicate with people I go to school with.

Generally one of the disadvantages is that facebook isn't widely used by people that aren't either in high school or in college. My friends list is dwarfed by those who used facebook in high school and thus added everyone they know, or those who are spending their early college years in the dorms and get to do a lot of social networking.

I do regularly meet people in classes and if I think it necessary I'll add them to my list, especially if we've become friendly over the semester.

But outside of the reasons that I've described, I haven't found a lot of value for the site. I actually use myspace because a lot of my friends who are current/former military use it, and it makes it very easy to stay in touch with all of them.

You mean like this?

Thank you.

So is Obama more than a "celebrity" to these 100,000?  I would love to see him explicitly confront the issue of celebrity worship in his message.  

He needs to strike the same chord that Jerry Brown struck in a debate with Clinton and the other candidates back in '92, a debate I watched as a college senior.  I remember Jerry talking about the "theatre" of it all, and challenging voters to get beyond that.  That was back when e-mail was something used only by college students who took computer courses -- and even then it was mostly "talk" with one another on a C: prompt in real time.

Somebody please find that clip of Jerry and put it on the tubes.

I didn't make you sound forgetful, it's just that you didn't experience losing the way that we did.  That made those memories personal.  

Not all, no. But c'mon. A friend of mine in a college course had people thinking that South America was in Africa, cause they look kinda the same.  I've encountered dozens of people in college who only know Watergate through the lens of Forrest Gump.  Some college kids (I'm technically one) are incredibly savvy and well-versed in this stuff, and are invaluable to people-powered...well...everything.  The majority in my experience have somewhat foggy notions of what happens politically without anything concrete to lean on, and the far end of the spectrum is populated by people with a visceral aversion to politics on its face.  Painting with a broad brush is never a good idea, but being wary of the political memories of college students overall is reasonable.

when I said "all of us college kids," I didn't mean those in the facebook group.  I am not a member, I am still undecided for 2008.  I meant people my age in general.

Has it occurred to you that maybe there is something going on here which isn't on your radar just yet?

I would be reluctant to write this off so glibly as a college fad.  And whether this Facebook group ever does anything else but enlist 1M, or even 350k, members the phenomenon itself is the message.  That is all they have to do.  We understand that.  It has captured the imagination of this blogsite, for example, and is a harbinger of things to come.  Everyone, as you say, loves a winner.  But which one?

And frankly, it is about time that the under-30 age group showed the rest of us old farts the way.  It should happen in every generation, no?

and what if only 2% of those million stay active or involved in someway? what if it's only 1%? That 10,000 or 20,000 is still nothing to dismiss.

as matt said, this is the step in the process. we dont need a million college students to be uber-involved to win. its a broad base to start a movement. The law of probability states that the more there are of something, the greater the chances of finding what you're looking for.

George Bernard Shaw once said, ""Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not."

Why Not?

You are partially right.  I know a girl, used to take a class with her, that is pretty hot.  She must add 20 to 30 guys a day as friends.  They search Facebook for the hottest girls just to add as friends and look cool

It is important not to correlate 100,000 or 1,000,000 members with volunteers or even votes (what with the high school students), but it's also important not to fall into a similiar trap as those unfamiliar with facebook, and ignore the context of the group. Many have noted this specific group's size relative to other presidential contenders, but it is also important to look at the various wall posts on the group's page. You see the normal political debates that occur across facebook being waged in under one roof; there is a sign that there are people joining this group with a legitimate interest in political discourse, and one mustn't ignore the catalysing capacity of debate.

With all due respect, how do you see Senator Obama as reinforcing negative stereotypes about fellow Democrats?  I have been watching closely but not seen this.

I haven't even seen him reinforcing negative stereotypes about 'fellow' Republicans.

that is your right.

But for those of us who have traditionally nontypical American backgrounds (in my case, I'm the son of Indian immigrants, and grew up with two cultures for all intents and purposes), the connection can be made -- at least for me.

I can relate to Obama -- especially after reading Dreams From My Father.  It shows the diversity and complexity of his background and thoughts.  And most importantly, I can relate to it.

Obama is unlike any past candidates from a background standpoint -- and people can connect to that.  It transcends cheap partisan politics.

No. He should be hired. He understands one aspect better than the people running the campaign. He probably understands far more online dynamics than Axelrod will ever comprehend.

I would say no.  I think one of the main things about his support is that conservatives do like him.

IE people here occasionally say that we need a fighter, but Obama is proof to the contrary.