politics

Twitter users may be tired of political tweets streaming through their feeds, but they shouldn't expect the flow to subside, because those tweets are driving actual political donations.

In a study Twitter conducted after last week's first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and released today, the microblogging service said that people exposed to any kind of political tweet are 98 percent more likely to visit a donation page as the average person on Twitter. Not only that, but even the average Twitter user is 68 percent more likely to visit such … Read more

YouTube has partnered with ABC News to cover the four presidential and vice presidential debates.

The company announced today that it will air the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate live on its Elections Hub page. YouTube says it will get the feed live from the ABC News YouTube channel and will air the four debates in their entirety.

YouTube's airing marks the first time the company has streamed the presidential debates. After they air, the debates can also be viewed in full on youtube.com/politics.

To enhance its coverage, YouTube will have commentary and analysis … Read more

Brazil made good on its promise today and detained the country's head of operations for Google, according to the Associated Press.

The debacle began last week when Google refused to remove denigrating video clips of a politician from YouTube as ordered by a Brazilian judge. Laws in the country limit public criticism of political candidates.

Since Google failed to remove the clips, Judge Flavio Peren initiated a statewide, 24-hour suspension of Google and YouTube, while also ordering the arrest of Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho.

According to the Associated Press, Brazil's federal police said that Coelho should … Read more

For a moment this weekend, those who follow Microsoft's Twitter account seemed to think that the company had embraced liberalism and kissed it on both European cheeks.

There appeared, you see, a tweet that read as follows: "@RBReich your granddaughter's level of discourse and policy > those of Ann Coulter." The tweet, with its succinct use of the greater-than sign, was captured for posterity by Adam Khan.

The RBReich in question is somewhat Democratic economist and Berkeley professor, Robert Reich. He had tweeted on Saturday that he was going "To NY to visit my 4-yr-old … Read more

Sarah Silverman, the comic actress whose 2008 video "The Great Schlep" helped focus attention on the young Jewish-American vote, is back with a new political project.

"Let My People Vote" is a website and social-media project that looks at voter ID laws. It showcases a video starring Silverman ranting -- in her trademark expletive-filled way -- about the laws that are part of this year's election story. An actress playing her grandmother and some guns make an appearance, too.

Paid for by the Jewish Council for Education and Research, this the latest project of Schlep Labs, … Read more

Twitter caved to a court order and handed over the tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester rather than face a stiff fine.

Twitter reportedly surrendered to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino tweets sent out last year by protester Malcolm Harris. Twitter had long resisted a prosecution subpoena demanding the data.

Reuters was first to report on the news.

Harris was arrested during an October Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge. He argues that the protesters were led to the bridge by police, so they could be arrested on charges of obstructing traffic. Prosecutors want to use … Read more

Facebook may be wielding the power of the polls with peer pressure. According to a new study, when users see that their friends have voted, they're far more likely to go vote themselves.

Titled "A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization," the study examines the influence of Facebook friends on voting behaviors. It looks specifically at the U.S. elections in 2010 and concludes that the social network's "get out the vote" message brought more than 300,000 more voters to the polls.

"Our study suggests that social influence may be … Read more

The latest comments on Big Apple Pizza's Yelp page aren't about anchovies.

After President Obama stopped by and received a bear hug from owner Scott Van Nuzer, comments started being posted on the pizza shop's page on Yelp, a site for posting reviews of local businesses. With two 5-star reviews dating back to 2009, Big Apple Pizza's overall rating took a dive with new comments - from people living much further than the Fort Pierce, Fla., pizzeria will likely deliver - awarding 1 out of 5 stars.

… Read more

A recent survey on Facebook is leaving a lot of users scratching their head.

The survey, which invited only a few users to participate, appears at the beginning to be a typical customer satisfaction survey but then devolves into a bizarre news quiz.

The survey begins by asking how satisfied recipients are with their Facebook experience and the news feed, supplying five possible responses from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. The social network then wants to know how often you get your news from various sources, such as Facebook's news feed, Twitter, news Web sites, and newspapers. It also … Read more