Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

The race for the White House is being done in a way that has changed the face of Presidential campaigns from here on out. Sure, we still see the typical television ads, town hall meetings, debates and so forth, but the candidates seem to have come to the understanding that social media has huge reach--a different reach than traditional methods of spreading the word regarding their campaigns. Going viral seems to be the way candidates are progressing vs. typical PR. It has left me wondering, will we see a change come November in who is coming out to vote? Has it changed the demographics of who is coming out to vote in the primary and possibly behind "the movement" that has been attributed to Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama?

Just looking at the Democratic bid for nominee, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have MySpace pages. Both are on Twitter, which is interesting to note--Hillary Clinton has 1643 followers, has had 59 updates--but is following no one. Barack Obama has 13,712 followers, has had 75 updates and is following 13,048 (is he really though?) That's a pretty substantial difference and again makes me wonder if this places into Obama's "movement." (Has social media helped his campaign or is this organic?)

As always celebrities want to have their say on who they support and they are no longer just making a comment here and there hoping it will get picked up on the newswires, they are creating You Tube videos to reach a broader audience. For example, Jack Nicholson's video endorsing Hillary Clinton and will.i.am's music video regarding Barack Obama.

So what do you think? Are the candidates reach through social media bringing on and educating a younger audience of voters? Does it change each way the other campaigns and will campaign going forth once we have established Republican and Democratic nominees? Speak up in the comments!