PewInternet.org

The new landscape for civics and politics (especially in mobile)

Voting Information Technology Summit - GeekNetNYCDecember 1, 2011Lee Rainie: Director, Pew Internet ProjectEmail: Lrainie@pewinternet.orgTwitter: @Lrainie

Three digital revolutions and their effects on civic and political life

Digital Revolution 1Internet (78%) and Broadband at home (62%)

65% 62%

Networked creators among internet users (two-thirds of adults; three-quarters of teens)• 65% are social networking site users• 55% share photos• 37% contribute rankings and ratings• 33% create content tags • 30% share personal creations • 26% post comments on sites and blogs• 15% have personal website• 15% are content remixers • 14% are bloggers• 13% use Twitter• 6% location services – 9% allow location awareness

from social media – 23% maps etc.

Digital Revolution 2Social networking – 50% of all adults

SNS and the social/civic world

• Social media users more tied to civic groups and their internet use bonds them more deeply to group activities

• Social media users for politics/civics are more socio-economically diverse !!!

• Facebook users more politically engaged– Political participation, voting, mobilizing friends

• Facebook users more trusting• Facebook users have more close relationships• Facebook users get more social support• MySpace users more open to opposing views

2008 vs. 2010 in social media politics

7Internet and Politics

2008: “Hey Dad, look at my profile on BarackObama.com”

2010: “Son, I need you to get off the computer so I can check for Facebook

updates from the Tea Party Patriots”

How voters used social networking sites and Twitter in 2010

3/9/2011 8Internet and Politics

• 35% of social networking site users (21% of online adults) used these sites for political reasons in 2010

– Discover who friends voted for (18%)– Get campaign/candidate info (14%)– Post content related to campaign (13%)– Friend a candidate or other political group (11%)– Join a political group or cause (10%)– Start their own political group or cause (2%)

• 28% of Twitter users (2% of online adults) used Twitter politically in 2010

– Get candidate/campaign info (16%)– Follow election results in real time (12%)– Follow a candidate or other political group (11%)– Include links to political content in their own tweets (9%)

Social media = “Faster and More Connected”

9

On the team

Insider info

Truthiness

Digital Revolution 3Mobile – 84%

327.6Total U.S. population:315.5 million

35% own “smartphones”

Mobile internet connectors – 63% adults

Nov-08 May-09 Nov-09 May-10 Nov-10 May-1130

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

37

5457 59

63

Wireless internet users

The emergence of mobile politics in 2010

26% of adults used cell phones for

political purposes in 2010

3/9/2011 15Internet and Politics

Mobile politics - 26% of adults used cell phones for political purposes in 2010

3/9/2011 16Internet and Politics

• 14% used their cell phones to tell others that they voted• 12% used their cell phones to keep up with political news• 10% sent text messages relating to the election • 6% used their cells to let others know about conditions at

their local voting stations on election day• 4% used their phones to monitor results on election night• 3% used their cells to shoot/share photos/videos about

election• 1% used a cell-phone app that provided updates about

election news• 1% contributed money by text message

No clear partisan splits—age is the defining difference in mobile political use

17Internet and Politics

Landscape change - 1

The contours of civic

space for groups

Landscape change - 2

The contours of civic

information

What’s ahead in mobile

Expectation for … value of … real-time info and just-in-time search

Tablet mania: Semi-post PC world

Deeper integration of mobile and social – sharing/mindcasting/life logging

Next social apps: Free texting, instant messaging, video calling

Search for pix, videos: Facial, object, landscape recognition

http://blog.oxagile.com/tag/google-goggles/

Voice interface

Mobile device as wallet and authenticator (NFC)

Rise of location services and context awareness

Fodor’s Personal Vacation Assistant

Augmented reality: Packing info into real-world experiences

Big data: Feedback and analytics

Gamification

Questions to ponder: How do you account for and address…

• Digital and civic divides? (the early adopter problem)

• Different audiences and needs on different platforms?

• Differing attention spans?• Your “close-up” moments?• Privacy concerns and data breaches?

Your map is wrong !!!

Thank you!