A Short History of Net Activism

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A Short History of Net Activism

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1998

MoveOn.org founded, delivers 500,000 signatures in opposition to Clinton impeachment. Creates PAC to target pro-impeachment leaders.

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2000

John McCain raises $500,000 online in 24-hours following New Hampshire primary win. John McCain raises $500,000 online in 24-hours following New Hampshire primary win.

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2002

Daily Kos founded by Markos Moulitsas, who would go on to be among the first bloggers given press credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention.

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2003

Howard Dean’s presidential campaign draws huge crowds using Meetup.

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2003

BushLies.net launches. Site was credited by Columbia Journalism Review for being one of the first media sources to have framed the [Niger] uranium deceptions as part of the President’s familiar M.O.

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2004

ActBlue, a clearinghouse for fundraising for Democratic campaigns. It has raised $1,198,272,426 to date.

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2004

Rock the Vote campaign registers an estimated 1.2 million new voters.

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2005

YouTube and Huffington Post launch.

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2006

Netroots Nation conference debuts as Yearly Kos in Las Vegas with 1,200 attendees.

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2006The importance of YouTube becomes evident when Sen. George Allen (R-VA) called opposition campaign volunteer S.R. Sidarth “macaca.” The video went viral and is seen as a major turning point that led to Allen’s defeat and the Democrats retaking the Senate.

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2007

The beginning of the presidential race saw new innovations – Money Bombs, the use of Ustream to live stream events, the first YouTube debate and the expansion of the race into social media.

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2008

Americans For Prosperity launch Right Online in effort to match Netroots Nations.

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2008

“Yes We Can,” the will.i.am video for Senator Obama was a viral sensation with over 21 million views by July 22, 2008. It won will.i.am a Webby Award for "Artist of the Year“.

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2008

The Obama campaign introduced the first campaign mobile app and text messaged its selection of a running mate.

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2008Senator Obama dominated the internet, raising over $500 million online.

He had huge advantages in support on Social Media:

Facebook - Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

YouTube - 905% more viewers than McCain

Twitter - 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain

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2009

Obama administration partners with Change.org.

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2012Internet Blackout to protest Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) involves 70,000 websites.

Triggers 10 million petition signatures, 8 million calls and 4 million emails to Capitol Hill.

As a result, 19 Senators came out against legislation including 7 former sponsors.

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2012Romney 47 percent comments captured on video and goes viral.

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2012President Obama continued his digital domination, raising $690 million online.

Expanded use of social media, to organize events, hold town halls.

The tweet to the right was the most retweeted of the year.

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2014John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight rant on Net Neutrality encouraging viewers to submit comments to Federal Communications Commission causes FCC website to crash after 45,000 comments the next day.

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2016Bernie Sanders retained Revolution Messaging led by veterans from the Dean and Obama campaigns.

He matches Dean in drawing big crowds.

While Sanders does not match Obama’s level of fundraising, he nearly matches Clinton in fundraising – raising $216 million out of approx. $230 million total online.

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2016

Sanders most ardent online supporters earn the moniker “Bernie Bots” or “Bernie Bros” and actually become a campaign liability.

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2016

Sanders is not able to rebuild the Obama coalition, however, as his strength online does not translate into support with traditional Democratic constituencies who largely back Hillary Clinton with Sanders main edge being among white males. .