By Mona Nomura of Pixel Bits (FriendFeed/Twitter)

If George W. Bush and John Kerry campaigned for the presidency on the Internet four years ago, I wouldn't have seen the point and likely would have laughed in their faces. Who would have heard and listened to them? Fast forward to today, and the joke is on me.

In case you haven't noticed, both of the presidential hopefuls have a presence on the web. John McCain and Barack Obama have accounts on the major social networks, including MySpace, Facebook, YouTube channels, and even Twitter accounts. Social networking is no longer just for geeks. Web 2.0 is going mainstream and everyone (that means you, reader!) has opportunity to be more than an audience. Data is democratizing and everyone's voice can be heard.

Need more proof everyone has a voice that's heard? Take the Steve Job's false report of a heart attack debacle. A simple post on CNN's affiliate citizen journalism site, iReport, generated a massive ripple effect. Within minutes, the unconfirmed "news" spread like wild fire. CNN and Apple quickly issued official statements that report was false, major blogs picked up the story of falsified reports, but Apple's stock still dropped 10%. All from one silly rumor, started by a Joe Schmoe from who knows where. Everyone has opportunity to be heard. Hence, democratization of data.

So what does that mean?

Well, stay with me, as I take this a step further. Most of you probably know me through FriendFeed, where I spend almost 90% of my days posting random pictures and or links. Now FriendFeed was once dominated by veteran bloggers, Internet personalities, - basically folks who have been around for some time, and put years of efforts into their well deserved titles by their names - or the tech 'elite'. It's now been a little over three months since I signed up, and still can't believe I interact with the information sources where tech-news (data) start and circulate around. But honestly? The 'elite' in my eyes, are regular people who are a part of the FriendFeed I love so much. And it's not constrained to FriendFeed. Whether you or anyone else for that matter, likes it or not, there are so many people from all walks of life, from all over the world sharing and discussing information on all social networks across the board. How can every single voice not be heard? Again, democratization of data. And this is only the beginning.

Think about it.

New sites and services are popping up every month. Established, major Social Networks such as MySpace and or Facebook are adding features, functions, and tools encouraging users to share data. The way Social Networks will be used are changing. There are millions of active users like us, sharing our personal stories, the latest news, information pertaining to our professional life, or even stupid cat photos since we - the users, have the choice and control to share whatever we feel is important to share. The bottomline: Information is no longer consolidated, centralized, or coming from a few selected sources. Data is now and will only continue to be democratized.

The path is now paved, so the choice is yours. How will you exercise these options?

Read more by Mona Nomura at Pixel Bits.

That the San Francisco Bay Area, surrounding Silicon Valley, is left-leaning is no surprise. With rare exceptions, including eBay's Meg Whitman and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, the majority of tech titans have traditionally leaned in favor of the Democratic Party. Recently, you also saw Google join the fray, joining Democrats in standing against Proposition 8, the California proposition that would restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. This comes despite Republicans' traditional strength in more affluent communities, which certainly describes parts of Silicon Valley. Looking a level deeper, by searching public political donation records, the gap between donations to Republican candidates and Democratic candidates from tech company employees in the 2008 campaign is massive.

Utilizing The Huffington Post's FundRace 2008 site, I looked at many household tech names, from traditional hardware companies like Apple and Cisco to newer online brands, including Facebook and LinkedIn. The list is by no means exhaustive, but provides a starting point, should you choose to do more research. Also, despite The Huffington Post's left-leaning foundation, I do not believe their editorial slant had any impact on the database. In fact, the site says, "All calculations are based on public records filed with the FEC of contributions by all individuals totaling more than $200 (and some totaling less than $200) to a single Republican or Democratic presidential campaign or national committee for the 2004 and 2008 election cycles."

Donations to the 2008 election cycle by prominent tech companies:

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Employer: Adobe (Donations)
$10,649 was given by people who identified their employer as "Adobe".
$2,900 from 5 people to Republicans
$7,749 from 18 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Adobe: 72.7%

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Employer: Amazon.com (Donations)
$123,703 was given by people who identified their employer as "Amazon.com".
$9,660 from 6 people to Republicans
$114,043 from 132 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Amazon.com: 92.2%

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Employer: America Online OR AOL (Results Combined) (Donations)
$190,220 was given by people who identified their employer as "America Online" or "AOL".
$11,835 from 12 people to Republicans
$178,385 from 110 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from AOL: 93.8%

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Employer: Apple (Donations)
$61,817 was given by people who identified their employer as "Apple".
$6,856 from 9 people to Republicans
$54,961 from 73 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Apple: 88.9%

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Employer: Cisco (Donations)
$119,469 was given by people who identified their employer as "Cisco".
$28,975 from 24 people to Republicans
$90,494 from 103 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Cisco: 75.7%

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Employer: Digg (Donations)
$750 was given by people who identified their employer as "Digg".
$0 to Republicans
$750 from 2 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Digg: 100%

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Employer: eBay (Donations)
$68,942 was given by people who identified their employer as "eBay".
$7,565 from 9 people to Republicans
$61,377 from 67 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from eBay: 89%

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Employer: Facebook (Donations)
$2,700 was given by people who identified their employer as "Facebook".
$250 from 1 person to Republicans
$2,450 from 4 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Facebook: 90.7%

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Employer: Friendster (Donations)
$563 was given by people who identified their employer as "Friendster".
$0 to Republicans
$563 from 2 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Friendster: 100%

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Employer: Google (Donations)
$474,863 was given by people who identified their employer as "Google".
$51,677 from 42 people to Republicans
$423,186 from 306 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Google: 89.1%

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Employer: HP OR Hewlett Packard (Results Combined) (Donations)
$278,123 was given by people who identified their employer as "HP" or "Hewlett Packard").
$44,586 from 83 people to Republicans
$233,537 from 351 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from HP: 83.9%

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Employer: LinkedIn (Donations)
$3,375 was given by people who identified their employer as "LinkedIn".
$0 to Republicans
$3,375 from 4 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from LinkedIn: 100%

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Employer: Microsoft (Donations)
$1,195,146 was given by people who identified their employer as "Microsoft".
$247,090 from 180 people to Republicans
$948,056 from 854 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Microsoft: 79.3%

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Employer: Mozilla (Donations)
$750 was given by people who identified their employer as "Mozilla".
$0 to Republicans
$750 from 2 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Mozilla: 100%

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Employer: MySpace (Donations)
$3,989 was given by people who identified their employer as "MySpace".
$0 to Republicans
$3,989 from 5 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from MySpace: 100%

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Employer: PayPal (Donations)
$4,502 was given by people who identified their employer as "PayPal".
$1,000 from 2 people to Republicans
$3,502 from 7 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from PayPal: 77.8%

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Employer: Sun OR Sun Microsystems (Results Combined) (Donations)
$179,871 was given by people who identified their employer as "Sun".
$30,164 from 37 people to Republicans
$149,707 from 214 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Sun: 83.2%

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Employer: Yahoo! (Donations)
$62,282 was given by people who identified their employer as "Yahoo".
$3,815 from 3 people to Republicans
$58,467 from 69 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from Yahoo!: 93.9%

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Employer: YouTube (Donations)
older results
$5,135 was given by people who identified their employer as "YouTube".
$0 to Republicans
$5,135 from 5 people to Democrats

% of donations going to Democrats from YouTube: 100%

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There's no question this is by no means an exhaustive list of tech companies, but this sample alone shows the overwhelming leanings the employees of these firms have, and where they have opted to put their money in this year's election campaign. Perusing the lists shows not just support for Barack Obama, but additional funds supporting Hillary Clinton's efforts during the primary season. On the Republican side, you also see some occasional support for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, in addition to John McCain.

All told, of these 19 companies (including eBay's PayPal and Google's YouTube as separate entities), employees are listed as having donated $2,786,849 to the 2008 election cycle, more than $1 million of that coming from Microsoft. Of the nearly $2.8 million from these select companies, more than $2.3 million was donated to Democratic candidates, representing 84% of all donations.

Also of interest, searches for employees at many Web 2.0 companies didn't show any donations, including SmugMug, Twitter, or Technorati. Since I left so many out, feel free to head to the FundRace page and pass along the results you find.

Despite only having been out of invitation-only alpha for a little over two months, the social news service Social Median has quickly gained a foothold among early adopters looking to get the latest on topics as diverse as technology news to the financial crisis and the 2008 presidential election. Though still small, the site saw traffic increase more than 90 percent from July to August, according to Compete.com, and is finding a niche, alongside other services, including Twitter, FriendFeed and Strands, for early adopters to find and share information.


Social Median's Numbers are Small, But Climbing
Founder Jason Goldberg, in an effort to learn more about the site's first users, sent an e-mail survey on September 30th to registered members, asking them what services they used on a daily basis, which Web sites they relied on for news, and, of course, which features would be most desired for later iterations to the product.


Twitter Is By Far the Most Popular Service by Social Median Users
With nearly 500 respondents, it's clear that those using the site are much more likely than the general population to own an iPhone, and more than four out of five are daily Twitter users. But the data did show, as could be expected, that Social Median users are more than seven times as likely to use Facebook as MySpace. Approximately half post to their blog each day, and use FriendFeed.

Social Median, unsurprisingly, fared well in its own survey, with 57% saying they use the site more than once a day, and just under 65% saying they visit it "regularly".


TechCrunch and the New York Times Follow Social Median In Use
Ranking just behind Social Median for news gathering was TechCrunch, with 52% of all users voting in the affirmative, and approximately 40% apiece selecting Digg, the New York Times and CNN. Others trailed further behind.

Interestingly, despite only 23 percent of Social Median's users saying they used an iPhone regularly, more than 28 percent said a dedicated iPhone application was a top priority. This, however, didn't rank as the top response, trailing the addition of likes for stories, news alerts, improved search, blog widgets and private news networks. Social Median may have already gained a significant role in the lives of those who responded to the survey, but they continue to have high expectations for the site - which just might not be undeserved. Goldberg told me by e-mail that the #1 request, the ability to "like" or "dislike" an item would go live as soon as Monday, bringing them even further into FriendFeed's neighborhood.

You can always find me on Social Median here: http://www.socialmedian.com/louisgray

With more and more sports fans wanting to get updates on the go, on their iPhones, BlackBerries, SideKicks and all other mobile devices, sports sites like ESPN and Yahoo! Sports are having to give extra focus to customizing their sites for these smaller screens. Sports Blogs Nation, a network home to more than 100 sports blogs for all professional teams from the four major sports, dozens of college teams, and other events, recently launched a new initiative that delivers customized mobile sites for all blogs, as well as a new postseason hub, dedicated to the teams in this year's baseball playoffs.

      
The New Mobile Athletics Nation Site
If you're as obsessed with your favorite sports teams as I am, you might find yourself feeling disconnected from the site when you're on the go. But over the last year, the SB Nation technical team updated the foundation of the hundreds of Web logs under their stead, in preparation for taking the day's posts and comments outside of their sites, and new devices and streams. The new foundation allowed users to sign in to all blogs using a shared account, and combines all user comments into a single stream, which hints at future projects. Who knows, maybe even a FriendFeed-like site for sports?

For example, my stream is here: http://www.sbnation.com/users/louismg

      
Fan's Photos and Comments Via Athletics Nation Mobile
If you're at your computer, you can get a sneak preview of SB Nation's new mobile interface by pointing your browser to any of the network's sites, including: http://mobile.athleticsnation.com/ for the Oakland A's, http://mobile.bleedcubbieblue.com/ for the Chicago Cubs, or http://mobile.aroundtheoval.com/ for the Ohio State Buckeyes, for example.


Also new with SB Nation is a new hub dedicated to following the Postseason. The new hub, found here: http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/postseason, has the latest posts from the active teams' blogs, as well as linescores of each game. It's a great one-stop page to get caught up on what the fans of this year's postseason clubs are saying, so check it out.

I had a long conversation yesterday with Trei Brundrett, who is leading the development team at SB Nation, and you can expect many big things coming. But for now, check out the mobile sites and the SB Nation Postseason hub. The official SB Nation blog: Blog Huddle, can be found here: http://blog.sbnation.com/.