Social Networking Sites and Political Activsm

The report on the use of social media for political engagement by the Pew Internet & American Life Project evaluated the political interaction-activities Twitter and social networking site users performed during the 2010 elections:

• 9% of Twitter users, as opposed to 13% of social network users, used Twitter to post political content.
• 16% of Twitter users used Twitter to acquire candidate or campaign information. 14% of social networking site users, on the other hand, used them for this same function.
• 11% of social networking site users and Twitter users used their respective social web-utilities to follow or friend a candidate.