So I was looking around for something to write about for my first non-welcome-to-my-blog post. This is not going to be easy, I thought. I need to find something probably off-beat, definitely hilarious – a topic which completely writes itself, in essence. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, after all. I know they say it’s just like riding a bike, but the first time you get back on a bike, it doesn’t always end well.
Turns out it took me about ten seconds to find this nugget from Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post which is so great it…well, I’ll let Chris walk you through it:
Ever wonder what sites we tend to visit most frequently on the Internet — you know, the series of tubes — say about our political leanings? Us too.
Now we have some answers thanks to a very cool project from Engage DC, a Republican consulting company with a digital focus. […]
If you use Spotify to listen to music, Tumblr to consume content or Buzzfeed to keep up on the latest in social media, you are almost certainly a vote for President Obama.
If you buy things on eBay, play FarmVille or search the web with Bing, you tend to favor former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. (Google users tilt slightly toward Obama.)
Meanwhile, people who use Facebook, Pandora or WordPress (!!!) can be considered swing voters. Ditto for Angry Birds – though those folks are considered less likely to engage politically than users of most other apps or websites. (Click on the picture to see it in full size.)
Needless to say, some of these findings make more sense than others. Ebay? Paypal? Clearly two examples of entrepreneurs and the free market at work, so it’s probably no surprise they’re mostly engaged Romney supporters. And anyone who reads Buzzfeed can be assured of two things: One, that you will see more lists of ridiculous things than you can make a list to categorize, and two, that when they actually get down to politics, you’re very likely to see something like this.
But Angry Birds? The game where you use a rudimentary slingshot to try and break down fancy houses and go after the greedy pigs who have robbed you of your nest eggs? Anyone else seeing the metaphor?
Obviously, I’m not 100% sold on this. I’m writing this blog on WordPress while listening to Pandora. According to the chart, I’m definitely a swing voter. I don’t consider myself one, even though I’m getting plenty of ads from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, NRA, and Michele Bachmann on Pandora. (Political ads are a fairly new thing for the site, and the results are not always going over well.) Still, I suppose it’s nice to get some attention one way or another.
As far as the humor website xkcd, whose readers are more likely to support Obama than users of any other site or app, it’s not necessarily hard to see why. Which is good, because sometimes with xkcd, it’s really hard.
Whew, writing this was fun. Now I need a nap.
zachthebernstein
Politics With Friends 