Buzz Is Good, but Not as Good as Success

Hillary Clinton would be the front-runner to win the 2008 presidential election, if only the results were based on Internet buzz.

The junior Senator from New York ranks No. 1 among major presidential candidates for her monthly share of blog citations, according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

About 0.05 percent of all blogs referred to her in the third quarter. Doesn't sound like that much? Consider this: That's 0.01 percent point more than buzz-factory Paris Hilton (and 0.02 percentage points more than her husband).

Following Clinton in the Web Buzz Olympics are Democrat John Edwards, and Republicans Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. They all shared the silver medal, with 0.03 percent.

Democrat Barack Obama was at 0.02 percent in the third quarter, tied with Republicans Rudy Guiliani and John McCain.

Romney, though, should be a little miffed. He placed 10,893 TV and radio ads between January 1 and October 10, 2007—more than any other major contender. None of his Republican competitors placed more than 650 ads during the same period.

Clinton, meanwhile, is harvesting her bumper crop of buzz after having broadcast only 2,192 ads, or 20 percent of Romney's total. Apparently TV and radio ads don't ignite blog buzz for its stars.

To delving into this hypothetical political world a little further . . . If Al Gore were running for president, he'd knock out everyone but Hillary Clinton: Nielsen gives him a 0.04 percent rating.

But why even rate politicians for buzz? Abraham Lincoln (who rated 0.01 percent in the third quarter, which is more than Nielsen gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York) was notably dour and depressive. Would he ever have been elected in a political ring comparable to the gossipy, high school lunchroom that is the blogosphere? What's more, the candidates could vote for themselves by creating their own blogs.

However, the cherry on top is that if this were really a buzz-based world, George Bush would still rule the roost. For the third quarter of 2007, he rated a 0.11 percent.

Buzz, evidently, is not the same as popularity. Or success.

by Willow Duttge

^{Photograph of Hillary Clinton at the Iowa State Fair by Eric Thayer/Polaris}