LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- MySpace galvanizes protestors to attend mass demonstrations ; 1.8 million Britons sign an online petition , leading to widespread press coverage and government embarrassment ; and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are fighting it out for the Democratic nomination on Facebook . Barack Obama 's online support is way ahead of his rivals ' , including Hillary Clinton 's . The Internet is now the focus for campaigners , marketers and activists , each claiming a slice of the virtual pie . We look at the impact of social networking sites on contemporary politics and ask , is the Web the new battleground ? Sites like MySpace , Bebo and Facebook give people a tool to interact online and extend their social lives beyond working hours . But what 's interesting campaign managers is that they 've been seized with such enthusiasm by increasingly hard-to-target teens and young adults -- even Britain 's Prince Harry is rumored to have a Facebook account . This marks a crucial development in the Internet 's history : Far from being a place where geeks go to hang out with other geeks , the Internet is now as vital a part of the average college student 's world as Spring Break . No longer a virtual refuge for lonely nerds , these sites are used daily by bright young things , keen to arrange the latest hot club/bar/gig to visit . And politicians have wised up to this . Howard Dean set the ball rolling in 2004 , raising around $ 50 million in his Presidential nomination campaign by using the Internet to garner large numbers of small-scale donations and pump up his coffers . John Kerry followed suit in his 2004 Presidential campaign against George W. Bush , famously narrowing the funding gap with his Republican rival . But this time round , candidates are plugging in and getting personal . Mitt Romney was the first potential Republican Presidential candidate to launch a Facebook profile ; Democrat John Edwards was the first to set up shop in virtual world Second Life ; and Hillary Clinton launched her Presidential campaign via her Web site . All of the major candidates for the 2008 American Presidential election have support on Facebook and profiles on MySpace . Right now , these sites are being harnessed most successfully by the Democrats , and notably Barack Obama 's campaign . At the time of writing , his supporters include over 161,000 friends on MySpace against Clinton 's 42,000-odd and John Edwards 's 28,000 . ( Republican John McCain has 21,000 ; Mitt Romney trails him on 12,000 . ) Obama 's biggest Facebook supporters ' group , `` One Million Strong for Barack Obama '' had over 320,000 members ( as opposed to Hillary Clinton 's `` One Million Strong for Hillary Clinton , '' with 5,300 ) ; and a growing pool of photographs on Flickr , the photo-hosting online community . What Obama 's team seems to understand -- and others grasp with varying degrees of success -- is that it 's not just about broadcasting to a hard-to-reach demographic . In order to recruit voters online , candidates must appear to engage with potential supporters on a far more personal level , on their terms , in their environment . These sites tear down the traditional barriers between those in power -- be they celebrities or politicians -- and their fanbase or supporters , providing the semblance -- if not the reality -- of personal involvement and a forum for discussion . If a 22-year-old male from New Hampshire can be `` friends '' on MySpace with Paris Hilton , goes the thinking , why not Senator Obama ? But only time will tell if the winner of this online popularity contest can convert his virtual `` friends '' into concrete votes . Away from the presidential campaigns , social networking sites also make it easy for activists to cross political boundaries . Net users do n't have to buy into a suite of policies ; using the web , pressure groups can focus their efforts on single issues instead . News on the virtual street travels quickly across existing networks of friends -- whether it 's via email , blogs or messageboards . In 2006 , MySpace users spread the word about immigration rights demonstrations across the United States . The Associated Press reported that half a million people turned out to the Los Angeles rally , while a Time poll indicated that two out of three Americans heard about the protests . Of course , the large numbers who attended the protests did n't all read about it on MySpace . But the site did enable grassroots information sharing between large numbers of people who were otherwise hard to reach , keeping them informed and encouraging them to action . It 's not just the social networking sites that are drawing campaigners ' attention . While Flash mobs -- sudden , unexpected and short-lived gatherings of members of the public , organized by Web sites and text messages -- usually tend towards the surreal ( zombie mobs in Toronto , pillow fights in Buenos Aires ) they have also been utilized by pressure groups . A flash mob gathered at an Oxfam thrift store in Birmingham , England in 2003 , sang `` Give it Away '' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers , stripped off and donated their clothes to the charity , in what the organizers claimed was the world 's first altruistic mob , while in 2004 , protestors in Bucharest , Romania , criticized limits to freedom of speech by sealing their mouths with duct tape . Flickr , the social photo hosting site , has also been utilized . Nearly 4,000 members have added their support to the ONE campaign to make poverty history by posting their photo to the campaign 's pool of photos , while Oxfam Australia publicize their campaigning by tagging their photos and encouraging others to do the same . Also on Flickr , `` Green My Apple '' is a Greenpeace-led pressure group of Mac devotees who want Apple to make more environmentally-friendly computers . They post photos of themselves with their Macs to a Flickr photo pool . Quite literally , it 's a way of giving faces to the people behind the campaigns . It 's not all plain sailing . The Internet has its own style of writing and its own social mores . A lack of experience at navigating the virtual realm can be painfully apparent . Politicians need to be careful about how they engage with their Internet audience . Savvy net-heads have little time for stuffed-shirt proselytizing , whether it 's on MySpace or YouTube ; having a Facebook profile does n't automatically make you cool . And engaging with people online can backfire : the British Government , who set up a Web site where the public could create petitions , were sorely embarrassed when 1.8 million people called for planned pay-as-you-drive road charges to be scrapped . The unexpected weight of public opposition to the policy ensured a barrage of rather unwelcome media attention . Online presences are also susceptible to virtual attack . Back at Facebook , the only group coming close to Obama 's support is the `` One Million Against Hillary Clinton '' with over 230,000 members . John Edwards ' Second Life headquarters were vandalized by opponents ; and a 1984-style pro-Obama video attacking Hillary Clinton and urging Americans to `` Vote Different '' had garnered over three million views on YouTube at the time of writing . Both attacks were veiled by the anonymity which the Internet provides , and politicians must now be wondering how much dirtier online campaigns will get -- and to what extent they 'll escape from Campaign Headquarters ' control . And that 's where the real power in the Internet lies . Far from being a one-way broadcast , the medium allows people to engage with each other , get involved and focus on the issues they care about most . Most of all , it allows people to take a campaign and evolve it themselves . While this will terrify traditional campaign managers and PRs , who can see quality assurance flying out of the window along with their approved , on-message briefing sheets , is it really a bad thing that the Internet gives regular Joes the chance to broadcast alongside the big guns -- and the potential to beat them at their own game ? ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Could online campaigning change the outcome of the 2008 US Presidential election ? Will the Internet encourage more people to get involved in political debate ? Tell us in the forum -- or read others ' thoughts on the future . E-mail to a friend .
Politicians harness Internet social networking sites to target youth . Web-savvy candidates create their own online profiles . Internet helps activists cross political boundaries . But only time will tell if virtual friends will cast real votes .