Elections Will Turn on Which Candidates Use Social Sharing Most Effectively

Eighty percent of House and Senate members have social-media accounts. That's 5% more than among millennials -- the key demographic of 18-29 year olds. Even more surprising, Congress has adopted Twitter far more widely than any other group recently surveyed by Pew Research: 81 percent of the House and Senate's 433 members use the platform, as against only 18 percent of 18-29 year-olds.

With a presidential election approaching next year, the question is, what will politicians do with these tools? How will President Obama capitalize on the fact that 23 million-plus people "like" his Facebook page? How will Mitt Romney reach new voters via his more than 93,000 Twitter followers? Politicians have the tools in place, but can they use them effectively? The most successful candidates will use social-media sharing at every step of their campaigns. This is not just about the swapping of virtual campaign buttons on Facebook, which the Obama campaign promoted in 2008. It means engaging communities of likely supporters in conversations across the Web -- on every possible device. This campaign cycle will not be about clicks, but targeted communications that can be messaged instantly, based on real-time information.