Net_worx

Social networking may determine political success

14 October 2007 | Mark Buchanan | Magazine issue 2625

Are you swayed by TV and internet voting campaigns? Political parties all over the world certainly think you are, and spend millions on advertising their candidates. Now an analysis of election results over 30 years in different countries shows that, for each political party, voting follows the same pattern, regardless of nationality, culture, history or economics.

The most important factor determining a candidate's success compared with rivals in the same party turns out to be his or her personal ability to connect with the public. In other words, the key factor could be how many friends you've got on Facebook.

"When it comes to voting," says Santo Fortunato of the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Turin, Italy, "people act in the same way regardless of national identity and the economic or political context. Even modern campaign tools like television and the internet have no great effect."

The influence of the ...

The complete article is 1443 words long.