Social media has been seen as a catalyst for change  in world events in the past few years. It remains to be seen what role it will play in our presidential elections in the upcoming year. As groups and individuals use social media strategies for promoting candidates and causes, they will want to be able to measure their efforts. This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is VoterTide, which sets out to do just that.

PACs and lobbyists take note:

“Whether you’re a candidate, consultant, fundraiser, lobbyist, or media professional, you have no choice but to follow the conversation online. VoterTide Pro makes it easy with comprehensive, easy-to-read metrics that put the data at your fingertips.”

If you are using any of the forms of social media in support of a candidate, VoterTide can measure the comments, retweets, and the buzz that result and put the data  into their political context. You can also keep track of your opponents!

VoterTide claims to revolutionize the way political polling is conducted. All of the information you need to track the conversations surrounding your candidates and issues would be available on a social media monitoring dashboard.

According to the site: “You go to the boards for your candidate – tweeting, sharing links on Facebook, posting YouTube videos, and doing all you can to persuade your friends to vote for the one who you know is best. But do your efforts matter? At VoterTide, we show you that they do. You may not have the resources to contribute big bucks, but you do have the power to Rise the Tide in your candidate’s favor.”

I have not been able to determine whether there is a free version of VoterTide, but there is VoterTide Pro for a fee, and the site offers a free demo. Take a look. I think we’ll be seeing many more services targeting this need in the near future.

Have a great weekend everyone!