The title of my post is an obvious play off the famous quote "Politics make for strange bedfellows" by Charles Dudley Warner.
Groucho Marx had his own version of this quote, "Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows, marriage does."
But that's another story for another time...
Wanted to share some findings from a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project regarding politics and social media.
Over 2,300 adults aged 18+ were interviewed for the study which found that 80% of Internet users are active in voluntary organization or real world groups compared to just 56% of non-Internet users.
As you can see from this chart below, of these same Internet users 53% felt that social media helped them get a candidate elected to office.
While I am not surprised by the fact that over half of the users interviewed felt that social media played a major role in getting someone elected, I am somewhat disheartened by some of the other numbers.
Check that... I am disheartened by ALL of the other numbers.
More people believe that social media plays major role in politics than it does in solving issues, raising money or providing emotional assistance.
Am I the only one who finds that sad?
I am not denigrating those who think politics is majorly impacted by social media. No, on the contrary, I am saying I think it's a shame that more folks don't equate social media to causes, to raising money, to raising awareness, etc.