What is "Shifting The Debate?"

Are messages spreading to new audiences or just "preaching to the choir"?  How fast are the messages moving? Is a message spreading through the Internet authentically viral or is it a coordinated campaign that will fade away?

These are the questions that we will address on Shifting The Debate.

To get the conversation going we have built the Political Video Barometer to measure how YouTube videos are moving through the Conservative and Liberal blogs. 

Over the last fifteen years the political use of the Internet has evolved from web page campaign brochures into an effective tool to mobilize supporters and raise unprecedented amounts of money.   But as the all-but-fixed proportion of campaign spending on TV clearly shows, the remaining holy grail of online politics is persuasion. 

One only has to look at email, Facebook or read a blog to see many attempts at political persuasion.

The increased use of tools such as online video has provided a platform to inspire and move people. 

Social networking sites, Blogs and Twitter allow for the rapid spread of ideas (as does email for those that still have the time to read it).

So why do political campaigns and issue advocacy groups spend such a small portion of their budget online to shift the debate in their favor?

The answer is one word - Measurement.

Come take a look at which videos the Conservative and Liberal bloggers have been pushing for the last few weeks and follow the shifts in the weeks and months ahead.