• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 15, 2009

Dubbed the YouTube election, the 2008 campaign proved to be a watershed not just for the use of online video but for the Internet's role as a whole. It was the first election in which more than half voting-age adults were politically engaged online, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

The study found that 55% of all adults -- and 74% of Internet users -- said they turned to the Web for news and information about the election or to connect with others about the race. About 60% of Internet users got political news online and used one or more online tools spanning email, instant messaging, text messaging and Twitter to share political messages.

Among other key findings from the Pew report:

• 45% of wired Americans watched videos online related to politics or the election. Young voters were especially avid viewers, with nearly half of all 18- to-29-year-olds (both Internet users and non-users) watching online political videos.

• 33% of Internet users shared digital political content, either by forwarding articles or multimedia content by email or other means.

• 52% of online social network members used their social sites for political purposes.

• 18% helped drive the online political debate by posting original campaign-related content in an online forum such as a blog, online discussion group or social networking site.

The Internet turned voters overall from spectators into active participants in the political process in 2008. "They used a wide range of digital tools and technologies to get involved in the race, to harness their creativity in support of their chosen candidate, and to join forces with others who shared their same political goals," said Aaron Smith, a Pew research specialist and author of the report.

The trend toward greater online political involvement also brought a shift toward more partisan news sources. One-third of online news consumers said they sought out political information from sites that share their political viewpoint, up from 26% in 2004. Young voters and those most deeply engaged in the 2008 race were most likely to gravitate to like-minded sites.

As became clear during the campaign, Barack Obama's supporters were much more politically active online than John McCain's. The report points out, for example, that 26% of Obama supporters posted original campaign-related content online, compared to only 15% for McCain.

Obama backers were also more likely to request automatic updates about the campaign, contribute money online, and sign up online for campaign volunteer work.

Voters also used the Web to get information about actually voting. One in five (18%) wired voters researched where to vote, 16% looked up information about early or absentee voting, and 9% went online to find out whether they were registered to vote in their current location.

The wide array of voting and registration information online contributed at least in part to the high turnout in the 2008 election, according to Pew.

The Pew report was based on a survey of 2,254 adults, of which 1,591 were Internet users, conducted between Nov. 20, 2008 and Dec. 4, 2008. The overall sample has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.