Social Network Battleground

First off- so sorry! It dawned one of us last night that we didn't post an update to our social network tracker last week- our error, and we hope none of you were too put our by our omission...

We're tracking Facebook and MySpace only.

Candidate	# of Friends	# of Friends	# of Friends	# of Friends	# of Friends	# of Friends
	6/14/08	6/21/08	6/28/08	7/06/08	7/12/08	7/26/08
Rep. Nancy Boyda (D)
FB Profile	493	607	874	959	989	1,028
FB Page	820	847	853	872	890	921
FB Group	415	431	457	600	692	721
MySpace	1,912	1,933	1,941	1,985	2,023	2,060
Frm. Rep. Jim Ryun (R)
FB Profile	142	152	163	173	184	196
FB Page	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
FB Group	27	90	105	121	127	131
MySpace	12	13	14	14	14	14
Treasurer Lynn Jenkins (R)
FB Profile	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
FB Page	92	92	99	104	113	117
FB Group	265	266	274	273	305	305
MySpace	10	10	10	10	10	10

Again, Boyda & Ryun see improvements, while Jenkins is just sittin' still. Like, so, so many commenters have said (our guess- Jenkins supporters), friends on social networking sites certainly don't determine electoral success- but nearly do yard signs, or lists of endorsements, or anything like that. The world of organizing via social networking sites is just like old-fashioned door-to-door- it's another way to engage people, inform people, and convince people you're the right person for the job.

And, there is something undeniable here: Something Congresswoman Nancy Boyda has done has engaged a couple thousand people online, and Ryun & Jenkins can't compete with that. Does it mean anything? Nothing other than Boyda has a pool of potential supporters already identified that Ryun & Jenkins neither one have. That can't be but a good thing.

Remember, each week we'll indicate any up and down movement by putting increasing numbers in bold and falling numbers in italics.