McCain, Online Social Networker?
Whatever anyone thinks of Barack Obama, there’s not much question that he mastered online social-networking technologies as a tool to help him eke out victory against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. Is John McCain now catching up? In realms like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, Obama is still far ahead of McCain overall. But when it comes to new growth, McCain’s numbers are increasing at a faster rate. Although in absolute numbers these increases are still smaller than Obama’s increases, the gap is narrowing.
Here are the one-week increases as of Friday at noon, as compiled by www.techpresident.com. McCain’s Facebook supporters were up 15 percent, to 323,849, compared with Obama’s 5.2 percent rise, to 1,763,643. McCain’s MySpace friends were up 13.3 percent, to 91,381, compared with Obama’s 3.6 percent rise, to 517,454. And McCain’s YouTube views were up 11 percent, to 15,890,392, against Obama’s 4.8 percent rise, to 64,223,321.
Not long ago, Obama had closer to 10 times as many Facebook supporters, MySpace friends, and YouTube views as McCain. Whether McCain’s recent gains will make a difference in the general election obviously remains to be seen.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.