Comments on: Since So Many Republicans Use Facebook…?

By: Collin

Collin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:00:10 +0000

I just looked at the site and thought it was funny.

You don’t really have to get what facebook is to be able to take something away from it. The joke isn’t on Zuckerberg; it’s on Obama.

“Barack is hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November” is funny whether you know it’s a Status Update or not. It’s funnier if you do get it – it’s like a family movie. Some jokes are for the parents and some for the kids, but everybody follows what’s happening.

I don’t understand why Ames talks about this like only people on the facebook can see it or understand it.

The shady people angle is interesting. I have no idea who most of these guys are. And really, Ames, can you say that angle is “tired” when you’ve written five posts on John Hagee?

By: Collin

Collin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:39:55 +0000

What’s the average age of a facebook user, anyway? 21? Quoth Don Draper: “Young people don’t know anything.”

The class split between facebook and myspace doesn’t surprise me, given that facebook was originally available only at elite private universities. Then, of course, it sold out.

By: Ames

Ames — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:14:21 +0000

It’s just like the Half Hour News Hour: a wasted chance at comedy :-).

Matt makes a good point, though, but I think the “Obama knows crazy people” talking point is wearing a little thin. I don’t know how much juice there is left in the Rezko thing.

By: Gotchaye

Gotchaye — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:33:57 +0000

The sad thing is that there’s so much wasted potential there. Everything beyond that first page is merely a list of news articles with summaries and links – there’s no entertainment value in that, and the only people who are going to read it are people who already buy into it anyway. If the whole thing were along the lines of the ‘About me’ on the first page, it’d be something like a right-wing Colbert Report-esque parody, and I’d probably spend some time clicking through it for yuks. By taking it too seriously (and by simply copy-pasting talking points onto the pages), they’re kneecapping a parody’s ability to appeal to the crowd that doesn’t eagerly await the next RNC mass email.

By: MattF

MattF — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:25:37 +0000

Here’s the article I read a year ago that examined the class divisions of Myspace and Facebook. Quite interesting stuff, though Facebook has seen significant changes since the article’s publishing in 2007.

http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html

As for Barackbook, I maintain that it’s a brilliant idea. It funnels propaganda in an easily recognized and easily digested form. It’s familiar to younger voters, who granted are unlikely to turn out even if they are convinced about McCain.

It’s unlikely, but I can see a stunt like this getting some play in the traditional media, as is already the case in the New York Times. If it does, well, it’s *really* hard to answer. Unlike a swiftboat TV ad, Obama can’t stand up and refute everything. He can’t even denounce the site, lest he drive traffic to it.

Ironically, in this way it has much more in common with anti-Obama email campaigns than Obama’s Web2.0 machinery.

By: didionsmommy

didionsmommy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:56:32 +0000

i have to jet, but i wanted to point out that there IS demographic analysis showing facebook and myspace users DO split along class and (highly correlated) educational-attainment lines … one of my g-friends knows more about this … i’ll try to get some links … ciao!

By: Ames

Ames — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:31:34 +0000

I thought the “I am Expelled” group was pretty big – I thought I saw 6k at one point. But woooo the protest group is awesomely big :-).

By: James F

James F — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:00:40 +0000

There are interesting trends in denialist groups on Facebook, too. The 9/11 Truth Movement is by far the biggest, with over 15,800 members. The biggest “creation science” group is 1,300 (compare with the biggest pro-evolution group at over 6,400 and Ames’ group at over 1,800). Down at the fringes, the biggest Holocaust denialist site seems to be about 500 members; the biggest HIV denialist site, 131.