For First Time McCain Buzz Equals Obama in Blogosphere, Web Tool Finds

Bloggers and social media users on the Internet have weighed in on the Republican McCain-Palin presidential ticket, and the responses have pulled the Republican nominee into a virtual tie with Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the blogosphere, according to Web technology deployed by a digital marketing firm.

Obama previously had what seemed to be an insurmountable lead in the amount of buzz, or volume of posts, being generated on the Internet, says the firm, Zeta Interactive. However, according to RelevantNoise, Zeta Interactive's technology that mines the Internet's social media landscape -- including more than 100 million blogs, as well as "countless message boards and online communities" -- the buzz on the Internet regarding presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has surged by more than 12 percent since the announcement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, bringing him virtually even with Obama for the first time in the campaign, the firm says.

Since announcing Palin as his running mate, McCain also has benefitted from an increase in positive posts on the online media landscape, according to Zeta Interactive. According to RelevantNoise, the number of posts that were determined positive in tone increased from 47 percent in the month prior to announcing his running mate to 59 percent positive on the day that McCain named Palin.

Palin is the first female candidate to be included on a Republican presidential ticket and only the second overall, following Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.

Palin also has been drawing increased coverage this week since the disclosure that her teenage daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Palin also has energized the conservative base of the Republican Party.

"With Zeta Interactive's RelevantNoise technology, we have the ability to track vital moments in current events such as the presidential election, and gauge how it affects the voting public in the blogosphere," says Al DiGuido, CEO of Zeta Interactive. "In this case, we used the tool to mine through millions of blogs and online media sites, and uncovered a significant increase in the way the social media landscape is reacting to the McCain campaign over the past weeks."

McCain and Palin will be appearing this week in St. Paul, Minn., during the Republican National Convention and their respective nomination acceptance speeches are likely to draw even more reaction in the blogosphere, Zeta Interactive says.

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