The Brown and McDonnell campaigns both spent time and effort trying to emulate Barack Obama’s “myBarackObama” unique social network by creating their own versions(Brown Brigade, McDonnell Action). On Election Day McDonnell’s Action network had fewer than 2,500 members, with less than 200 actually engaging on the network daily. From glances at the Brown Brigade, the activity on there appears similarly bleak compared to Facebook.

The message here is: use Facebook to micro-target to your audience, and don't spend big bucks trying to build the "next Facebook".