Social media is a powerful tool that politicians can use to gain votes. One of the main targeted groups are the young adults since they make up a large component of the social media world. Perhaps they are some of the best users of social media since they are willing to explore the internet.
However, what matters to political candidates is who will support their campaign and go out and vote. Social media is successful with young adults because they are not afraid to speak their mind on there. They will vote on just about anything on Facebook so what politicians focus on is getting them from their computer screen to an actual ballot. In recent years the number of young voters has increased as demonstrated by the table below.
This means that candidates now have a better chance of winning with the young vote than with the older vote. The question is now, how do they make this happen? Of course, social media is a way in which this can occur. The impact that social media can have on a young adult can inspire them to go out and vote. There are several movements that have started to pop up and encourage young voters to go out to the polls like Vote Out Loud. Obviously this is working because as noted in the table, the young voters are increasing in numbers. There are also websites with voting movements specifically targeted towards different ethnicities. Such is the case with LATISM 2012, a two-year, non-partisan, national campaign aimed at educating and mobilizing Latino voters. Other movements include the Voto Latino.
Social media is impacting young adults and as their elections get closer it is imperative that candidates have a stable social media campaign. It is clear that social media does have some positive effect and that those who are now trying social media will be the navigators, showing us what is right and wrong when running a social media campaign.
- Student Asks for Education Reform - May 10, 2013
- SMU: The Learning Experience - May 5, 2013
- Earth Day Dallas 2013 - April 19, 2013