Online video and other social media applications are playing significant role in U.S. politics. To evaluate the role of new-generation communication technology on Americans’ political engagement, Compete and Cisco (News - Alert) conducted a Visual Networking Index study, which highlights the role that visual networking is playing as a source of U.S. presidential campaign news and information.

 

The study, sponsored by Cisco, is the first installment of Cisco Visual Networking Index Pulse (News - Alert) activities, aimed at providing quantitative views of network-based consumer behavior through direct data collection.

 

VNI Pulse survey was conducted last month on more than 1,800 registered U.S voters who identified themselves as Democrat, Republican, independent or undecided.

 

The survey indicated that about 62 percent of respondents identified Internet (via computer) as a regular source for 2008 presidential election information and coverage. Television continued to rule the mass, with 82 percent of them saying they relied on television sets regularly for news and information related to 2008 presidential election.

 

To substantiate the popularity of online video contents, the study found that traffic to popular online video Web sites increased fivefold in 2008 from 2004. About 30 percent of voters surveyed used online video to follow 2008 presidential election coverage; 75 percent of them felt the videos helped them follow presidential election news and events more closely.

 

About 62 percent of online video users were found to follow presidential elections closely as opposed to 37 percent of non-online video users, suggesting that online video users appear more engaged in the 2008 presidential election than their non-online video user counterparts

 

Cisco also found a difference between the searching habits of Democrats and Republicans. According to the study, Democrats are more likely to use traditional news sites and social networking sites to find video content while Republicans tend to use search engines more than Democrats to find online video content.

 

"Visual networking is clearly playing a significant role in how American voters get political information and express their views," said Ken Wirt, vice president of consumer marketing for Cisco, in a statement. "The 2008 election has rightfully captured the attention of the United States, and the Internet serves as a very effective tool in helping people investigate issues, make informed choices and share their opinions."

 

As part of its ongoing Cisco VNI Pulse initiative, Cisco said it would sponsor additional research to be conducted over the next year to provide a deeper understanding of consumer video behaviors and attitudes on a global scale.

 

Earlier this year, Cisco introduced Cisco VNI Forecast to provide projections for global Internet Protocol (IP) networking growth and usage based on Cisco's analysis of independent analysts' forecasts.