The Internet has been the catalyst for voter engagement in the 2008 election. The following are the Top 8 reasons why Obama wins on the social web.

8. Obama found common ground with voters on the Internet. 40 percent of all Americans, especially Democrats, received news and information about the primary campaigns from the web, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project developed in June — a dramatic increase since the 2004 election.

7. Celebrities promoted the Obama platform, YouTube top candidate. “Yes We Can”, the star-clad Obama music video drew 10 million views on YouTube. Obama-related content exceeds McCain in the total number of views and subscribers on YouTube and its election channels.

6. SEO helped Obama sites receive 5 times more traffic than McCain. AdGooRoo recently found that Obama-related sites received 22 million visitors versus McCain’s 3.5 million.

5. Social networks reached the pulse of young, engaged voters. On Facebook, Obama has about 2,250,000 supporters; McCain has 579,000. On Twitter, Obama has over 100,000 followers; McCain has a little over 3,000.

4. Facebook founder Chris Hughes is on Obama’s campaign team. Hughes helped develop My.BarackObama.com — an attractive, user-friendly network with 850,000+ members that have already planned 50,000+ events for his campaign.

3. New media marketing spread Obama messages. The senator incorporated an iPhone application and video in-game ads. He text messaged voters when choosing Biden as his running mate.

2. Video attracted 1.3 million viewers to his official site. On the official Obama site, video streaming increased 155 percent from July to August, according to Nielsen Online. The site also saw a 173 percent increase in unique video viewers in the same time frame. The same metrics for the McCain site shows increases by merely 16 and 5 percent, respectively.

1. Obama fundraised $600 million, much from small donors over the Internet. ‘Nuff said.

Tags: Barack Obama, election, John McCain