In 1964, Marshall McLuhan introduced us to the much deeper effects of media on society when he published Understanding Media, which contained the famous passage:

“In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium--that is, of any extension of ourselves--result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.”

Few technologies have so readily embodied McLuhan’s statement as the rise of social networking on the Internet.  It can certainly be said that websites such as YouTube, MySpace and Digg.com have fundamentally changed how people interact and share information.  These sites have not only affected how people engage and interact with each other, but also the methodology of how we create and consume information.  This has far reaching consequences, particularly for those who are trying to use information as an influencer in this new media frontier.

As this new medium grows, the rules related to social networking and what it means to those looking to share their ideas are evolving.  But this much is certain—those who can quickly learn the rules stand the most to gain.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the fields of politics and business.

With the 2008 election quickly approaching, presidential hopefuls have begun utilizing these technologies, with the hope of quickly and efficiently reaching potential voters.  With the goal of understanding how these candidates are utilizing social media, as well as the overall impact of Internet technology, Spartan Internet Consulting developed the SIPP Index (Spartan Internet Political Performance Index:

www.spartaninternet.com/2008

This index measures over 650 quantifiable Internet factors related to all candidates from both political parties for the 2008 presidential election.  The SIPP Index looks at the changes in factors associated with each candidate and assigns a score related to the effectiveness of each candidate’s ability to get his or her message out and reach Internet users as potential voters.

Thus far, the SIPP Index has yielded some interesting information:

YouTube video views have increased by over six million for the candidate- sponsored videos since the start of data collection in July.  Barack Obama alone had more than three million views in this time period (Table 1).

The candidates have gained over 100,000 friends on MySpace, and over 120,000 on Facebook (Table 2).

The total number of supporters on both sites has reached over 900,000.

These numbers are quite impressive; however, the scope of the Internet is not defined by just these three specific websites.

For those of you not into politics or statistics, but concerned with advancing your business, the real story behind candidates and the numbers is social networking.  Regardless of who wins the presidential election, social networking is now a part of the Internet’s ongoing evolution.

Understanding how social networks function is becoming increasingly important from a business perspective, not merely as an entertaining pastime.  We are all familiar with the term word of mouth.  Social networking can multiply the value of word of mouth thousands of times over.  Tapping into social networks can expand the reach of your marketing message at a fraction of the cost of any traditional advertising campaign.

For the SIPP Index, the ultimate test comes when voters are actually called upon to cast their ballots and make their final endorsements in the primaries next year. Seeing how the election correlates to the Internet will be an interesting piece of analysis (one Mr. McLuhan himself would likely have found interesting) once the results are in.

Time will tell on the elections, but the importance of social networking as a tool to advance business will continue far beyond the elections.

		Ryan Vartoogian is president and founder of Spartan Internet Consulting Corp., a website development firm in Lansing.