Via the New York Daily News, some not-surprising news from Facebook:
WASHINGTON — Sanders is berning up the internet.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has seen an explosion in support online as he revs up his campaign for president, and is using the increased attention to build a volunteer army he hopes can match Hillary Clinton's more professionalized organization.
Facebook data obtained by the Daily News shows that more than twice as many people were talking about Sanders last week on the social media platform than in the week before, and that the overall conversation about him nearly tripled in the same time, from 5.5 million unique interactions the week ending Aug. 5 to 14.4 million in the week ending Aug. 12.
That final figure comes close to the 15.3 million unique interactions (likes, posts comments and shares) Clinton got in the same period, the latest sign of growing buzz around the Vermont lefty — and the work of a solid digital operation.
"They're doing a fantastic job on the digital side, no question," said Jason Rosenbaum, the technology director of Action Network, a group that works with a number of liberal and labor groups that isn't affiliated with any presidential campaign.
Google trends also shows a sharp uptick in interest in Sanders over the last few weeks.
More people have been searching about Sanders than Clinton since mid-June, partly because he's more of an unknown so more are looking for basic information. But searches of his name spiked starting last Saturday, during a string of huge rallies he held on the West Coast that drew from 8,000 to 28,000 people, and a Black Lives Matter protest that interrupted his Seattle event. He even overtook Donald Trump in total Google searches last Monday.
