Close your eyes. Imagine you are a politically involved citizen of the United States, interested in the development and outcome of the upcoming presidential election. You are on Facebook. You should really be doing your homework, but as you scroll down your news feed you notice how 75% of the posts relate to the presidential candidate you “liked” a month ago. Some posts are even in a row, right below and next to the photos of your friends’ high-school graduation selfies.
Your phone vibrates and its a text. Not from a friend or even your mother, but rather from that same presidential candidate whose posts fill your news feed. The message informs you of a fundraising deadline and asks that you “text back” in order to donate money, because of course, their campaign is about to surpass a record number of grass-roots campaign donations.
Whether your eyes are closed or open, social media, through means of Facebook and Twitter, have become the newest political platform reaching supporters and undecided voters.
In past presidential elections, political candidates have asked themselves the question: what better way to connect to the American public than through social media? Like they do in television, politicians and political campaigns have sunk their advertising claws into the technology more than a million Americans access every day. Since 2008, we’ve seen politics adapt a new relation with its voters and supporters through means of Twitter feeds, Facebook posts, and website memberships.
“As an Obama fellow, I have used both Facebook and Twitter to get other voters informed.” junior Alida Mitau said. “Tweeting about upcoming events or opportunities for volunteering as well as hash-tagging something like “#OFAMN” (Obama for America Minnesota) was stressed in the training that came with becoming a fellow as well as throughout the fellowship. In addition to tweeting these kinds of things, it is also effective to tweet pictures of volunteer events to make potential voters both intrigued and excited to join in.”
As media becomes more instant and rapid to release content, politicians have hopped across news outlets and newspaper editorials to connect with potential voters. Millions of Americans use Facebook to connect with others, so why not the political candidates such as President Barack Obama and Former Governor Mitt Romney?
Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter allow seemingly distant political candidates to become more “approachable” and more like the “average” American who has a Facebook and Twitter account.
“I think social media has played a much more positive role on the democratic side because many fervent Obama supporters are young people anxious to spread their opinions and do so effectively with social media,” said Mitau. “Obama also relies more on grassroots work to sustain his campaign and supporters and the heads of many of the grassroots teams will stress social media as a powerful part of the campaign, so many Obama supporters are tweeting and sharing information and pictures about why they love Obama, thus spreading the world and potentially putting positivity towards Obama on the radar of many undecided voters.”
