Using Social Media as Advertisement for Voting

Social media is a platform in which photos, stories, and videos are shared. Depending on the platform one is shared more than the other. Social media is the main source of sharing information and getting news to the people of America. Over 2.6 billion people in the world use some form of social media, and 79% of people in the U.S. use social networking sites. In 2016 there were 250 million people of voting age while only 128 million people voted in the presidential election. This number is astonishingly smaller than it should be. 

How do we get more voters in the country? Well, we use the one thing that almost 80% of the population uses. Social Media. 

As a young voter, I can only speak from my own experience. In the previous presidential election I rarely saw information regarding the election before the election started. While you can literally search anything on the internet, using social media seems like a good way to reach an audience of young voters who take up most of the voting stats anyways. As much as a lot of people of older generations don’t agree with the internet and social media, the world has shifted towards social media as an outlet for almost everything that happens in the world. To sell products, to advertise a brand, to start political campaigns, to share news, personal lives. Everything that we do in our day is typically surrounding the internet and social media, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Social media has allowed more people to see and share what is happening in our world as a faster pace which allows for faster responses that can change the outcome of events. For example, when wild fires break out in different countries, the entire world has access to see what is happening and donations can be made simultaneously to help the cause itself. 

While there are many negative with social media it can also be a very positive place for really great things to happen. Social media platforms can help with situations like elections to get the message out quick and even used as a reminder to do the one thing you can, vote, to help steer life-changing things in the right direction.