WHEN it comes to using social media to engage a wired-in sector of the US electorate, one presidential candidate proves more adept at working the web to his advantage.

Despite efforts by Mitt Romney’s camp to close the digital gap President Barack Obama’s digital campaign still sees far more Facebook, Twitter and YouTube interactions from followers, according to a Pew study released on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Pew Research Centre’s Project for Excellence in Journalism analysed over three million total interactions, comprised of Facebook likes, Twitter retweets and YouTube comments, between the duelling campaigns and their followers.On one hand, the findings are obvious: as more potential voters start hanging out on and connecting via mobile to big-name platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the campaigns are going where they think the eyeballs are. On the other, research shows both camps are taking a more targeted approach to the web compared with 2008.Allowing prospective voters to break down issues by topic and location on campaign websites is a tactic pioneered by Obama and emulated by Romney, according to project founder Tom Rosenstiel.

“The chance that [campaigns] are wasting time and effort is probably smaller,” Rosenstiel said. “There’s no question the more you can tailor your message in politics the more effective you are. We’re seeing a lot more tailoring than four years ago.”

When it comes to sheer productivity, Obama’s massive staff — in June, it was 750 compared with Romney’s 87 — has maintained the president’s lead by dwarfing Romney’s postings on Twitter, out-blogging him on the Obama campaign website and matching Romney’s activities on Facebook.

“I give nothing but credit to the Obama folks who run a very successful programme with a very large staff that we are always amazed by,” Zac Moffat, digital director of the Romney campaign, told the Personal Democracy Forum in June. “In size they are clearly ahead, but in terms of engagement, no, they are not.”

Indeed, in an election cycle that will go down in history for its fundraising gluttony, staffers spending time with the humble retweet or Facebook ‘like’ isn’t the sort of thing that raises money. As Moffat noted, the Pew report found that engagement is a problem, but with both candidates. However, with back-to-back party conventions looming, a candidate like Mitt Romney could easily help narrow the gap, according to a longtime party strategist.

“Live events are simply naturals for follower growth,” said Todd Herman, former new media director for the GOP. “So, if the two parties don’t gain massive numbers of followers by truly integrating the viewer into the experience it will simply be due to a lack of creativity or an over-abundance of caution.”

Right now, Obama is the victor in terms of creating social media buzz but there’s still the looming question of whether courting tweets, likes and comments actually leads to voter action.

“There’s an old axiom in politics,” Rosenstiel said, “Half of what you do is probably a waste, but you don’t know which half, so you do everything.” — The Guardian, London