The 'Going Viral' panel at George Washington University. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Campaigns not buying social media

Despite the increased attention paid by the media to political Facebook and Twitter accounts, campaigns today still spend less than 5 percent of their media expenditures online, according to an expert in the field.

Mindy Finn — of EngageDC and the director of e-strategy for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign — told an audience at the POLITICO-Facebook "Going Viral" panel Monday night at George Washington University that the total being spent by campaigns now is more than in the last cycle, adding that ballot initiatives tend to spend 15 percent of their funds on online communications.


How effective new media can be for candidates looking to convert an online presence to a victory on Election Day, however, is still a subject for debate.

Some believe that while effective Twitter or Facebook accounts can make candidates more approachable, they also can make politicians into more polarizing figures.

The prime example discussed at the event, titled "Going Viral: How Campaigns Are Using Social Media," was Sarah Palin, who has the ability to drive a news cycle with a 140-character tweet or drive a policy conversation by tapping out a Facebook note, as she did last year when she wrote of "death panels" during the debate over health care reform.

By tweeting, Palin — who often gets taken to task by the media for making errors in her casual notes to followers — is able to preserve and build support from fans who care more about her approachability than her accuracy. Just last week, Palin accidentally tweeted that John Raese was from Pennslyvania, when he actually is running for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia.

"She's definitely more likely to be the Republican nominee for president but less likely to actually be president," said Matthew Hindman, GW assistant professor of media and public affairs.

Hindman added that the increased popularity of politicking via social media has created a more divided electorate.

"On balance, the evidence suggests that is is," Hindman said when asked by POLITICO's Ben Smith, the event's moderator, whether social media were polarizing.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts were all cited by the panel as politicians who have effectively used social media to appeal to their supporters and constituents.

Several of the panelists said they believed that mobile use of social media tools will define future elections. Facebook's Adam Conner noted that Facebook mobile users are twice as more engaged as users who exclusively access the site through the Web.

Finn, who has run media communications for several campaigns, said that mobile use likely will define new-media strategies in the next presidential election.

"2012 is going to be the year of mobile," Finn said.