Social Media Changes Politics in the U.S., Sparks Revolutions Around the World

July 22,2010— -- During the 2000 presidential campaign, it was John McCain who first tried a radical experiment -- launching a website to accept political donations.

Ten years later, Internet social media completely has changed the political game. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter now can help win a national campaign or end one in an instant.

Watch "World News" this week for reporting on the social media revolution.

Take the case of George Allen, the former Republican senator from Virginia and one-time presidential hopeful. While campaigning for re-election in 2006, Allen noticed an Indian-American staffer for a political opponent taping him from the audience.

Allen told the crowd, "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt. Macaca or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent, he's following us around everywhere."

The video showing Allen's use of the racial slur "macaca" quickly went viral, derailing his re-election campaign and quashing his ambitions for higher office.

Now, 76 percent of Congress uses social media, and well more than half of all members have Facebook pages. Twitter and YouTube gurus are now must-haves on campaign staffs.

But while politicians try to harness the power of a few million "friends," it is the citizen who has the most to gain in this brave new world.

"Nine out of 10 videos watched during the 2008 presidential campaign that mentioned Obama and McCain were produced by citizens trying to influence each other, said Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum. "So there is an explosion of conversation in politics happening on these networks, and the last people to arrive at the party are the politicians themselves.