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Widgets and the U.S. Presidential Election

4 September 2008 2,367 views Comments

There’s been a lot of attention on the use of social media and widgets in the election and Widgetbox has been gaining recognition as a resource for contrasting the candidates’ widget strategies. We’ve even seen widgets used as a way to measure a candidate’s momentum on the web…and to infer who’s leading in the polls.

We first got curious about the possibilities last May, when we blogged about how we noticed a surge in the popularity of Obama widgets as his campaign was closing in on the Democratic nomination, while activity on Hilary Clinton widgets started to decline. Read the post here.

Interest in Widgetbox as a resource for data on widget activity and trends continues to grow, and last week on Profy, Svetlana Gladkova mentioned Widgetbox as the best source for widget-related info in a story on how Obama is using the power of social media: “When I need information on this or that widget I usually go to Widgetbox to get a sense of how active people are in installing certain widgets on their blog or profiles so I have decided to take a look if I can find some campaign-related widgets.”

So, what does our data say about the latest activity in the political widget scene? We took a look at all the Obama and McCain widgets on Widgetbox over the weeks leading up to both party conventions. Obama widgets continue to outnumber McCain widgets, by a ratio of almost 3:1. Further, Obama widgets were active on 5.5 times more domains and received 6.5 times more impressions per day than McCain widgets.

Widget Traffic by Country

We then looked at the geographic reach of the Obama and McCain widgets and found that 27% of all the traffic to the Obama widgets came from 150 non-U.S. countries while the McCain widgets received 11% of their total traffic from just 95 non-U.S. countries. Most surprising however, is that the Obama widgets received more traffic from OUTSIDE the U.S. than the McCain widgets received from WITHIN the U.S.

Widget Traffic by City

We also took a look at the popularity of Obama and McCain widgets by U.S. city and found that while Obama widgets outperformed McCain widgets in nearly every city, they led by the greatest margin in Obama’s home city Chicago with 7.8 times more traffic, and had one of the narrowest margins in McCain’s home city Phoenix with only 2.1 times more traffic. Pretty interesting…

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  • I think now John Campaign's manager and the Republicans should have a good look at these statistics.
  • They were definitely fired and would no longer be part of the Republican's campaign.
  • That would be a scary phenomenon but a wake up call for politicians.
  • Widgets starts to play a great importance on all future elections.
  • April
    Interesting, but does it really just say that widget users are more likely Obama supports?
  • Hugh Chatfield
    But is Sarah Palin actually the long lost sister of Michael Palin of Monty Python? I think we need her to sing the Monty Python Lumberjack Song. Do you know it? "I'm a governor and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day. I cut down trees, we build that bridge that goes where I belong. Obama is muslim, I hope you like my song."
  • thanks..
  • Internet has revolutionize election campaign. It can make or break a potential candidate.
  • Wow interesting data out there. This is an informative piece of article. Thanks for sharing !
  • It appears that the social media give a somewhat accurate picture of the voters' choice. Such is the power of the internet in any political campaign.
  • Thanks for sharing. Really interesting:)
  • So Obama's supporters are more technologically savvy. For the 2012 election he is easily going to rake in more funds thanks to his existing mailing list. That's wicked smart.
  • ezdisqus1
    Almost everyone are technologically savvy.Not only Obama supporters!
  • I also see a big traffic boost after putting some widgets on my site:)
  • dupleang
    Nice one! I support Obama as well!
  • replicaloh
    Everyone is so mad over the president election!Glad that Obama has won.
  • ezditto
    It's unbelievable that there are widgets made for obama.
  • ryanlow
    This goes to show how Obama impact the lives of most people. Widgets customized just for him is just right for people to follow up news on him and knows more about how the nation is progressing.
  • jonaw
    It does seems like Obama are already the winner without them to announce it!He seriously have lots of supports as shown from the chart above!He is more like a celebrity than a president.
  • Yes its pretty interesting that even McCain's home city Phoenix doesn't really drive more traffic in support of her. It seems that her capabilities are far of Obama. I wonder what did he do that attracts so many supporters!
  • It appears that the social media give a somewhat accurate picture of the voters' choice. Such is the power of the internet in any political campaign.
  • Internet has revolutionize election campaign. It can make or break a potential candidate. People will really pay atention to it in next elections
  • Nowadays everyone checks the net for news. Politics really should pay attention to this if they want to win ellections
  • I also see a big traffic boost after putting some widgets on my site:)
  • man and van london
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    obama is good for the world we already seeing the positive sie of it
  • Internet has became a tool in politic
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