What Happened To The Youth’s US Election Participation?

In Trends

Photo by Jon Dickson

Who would have thought we’d live to see the day Donald Trump becomes the President-elect of the United States of America? Naturally pointed out, a remaining low youth voter turnout is to blame. According to Bloomberg, Millennial turnout stats remained unchanged and made up the same percentage of the electorate (19 %) in 2016 as in 2012, with the majority of active youth votes swinging to Hillary Clinton. Iconic moments, crazy memes and hilarious GIF reactions flooded social media as candidates continued roasting one another, facing a bigger youth audience than ever before. So where is the missing link between the enormous youth participation on social media and their actual turnout to vote? We look at the social media tools that were created for the elections, what happened to the youth’s vote and the lessons your brand can learn from it. Social Impact Social Media clearly made great strides with the youth in getting them interested in the elections and begs the question of whether election administration should be more youth friendly in future, allowing them to vote in mediums that fit into their world. If it means getting the youth’s vote, surely the change would be worth it? Here is a look at what the different social media platforms did to get Millennials interested in the elections.

1. Twitter Instant Gratification

Twitter was the youth’s leading go-to spot for real-time news and updates and had them practically camping out on the platform. Twitter’s election night coverage included a dedicated hashtag-activated emoji, live-stream coverage from BuzzFeed, lots of chatter, hilarious memes and real-time commentary which is what Millennials love about the platform. Twitter revealed that by the time Trump claimed victory, over 75 million election related tweets went out, smashing the 31 million tweets back in 2012.

2. Google Proves Convenience Is Everything

Google knows Millennials appreciate convenience and pulled out all the stops heading up to Election Day and created tools to encourage voters to make an informed decision. They created a search feature that allowed users to register for the upcoming presidential election, see what their ballot would look like and find all the info they need about candidates, before making their mark. Voters could also locate their polling station by entering their home address on Google Maps. Google did most of the work for voters by housing all this info, making the process less tedious. The company even announced a startling 233% increase in the number of people engaging with the voting process on Google, compared to the elections in 2012.

3. Snapchat Made It Snappy!

It was only a logical move for Snapchat to join in the election action and create fun augmented reality filters that would encourage users to head to the polls and vote. Hilary Clinton’s campaign took advantage of Snapchat’s unique ability to reach the youth and sponsored two election themed geofilters which encouraged users to vote for her. What might seem like silly filters on this so called “teenagey” app, still had a massive impact. According to a study featured on The Wall Street Journal, Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18- to 34-year-olds in the U.S. daily.  A survey that was conducted for Variety  by Defy Media revealed that 30% of Snapchat users used the app to get news for the 2016 presidential campaign.

 

4. Facebook KISS

KISS – Keep it simple, stupid. Getting people to register to do anything is always a schlep, especially voting registrations. But all it took was 4 days in September for Facebook to spark a major increase in the number of registered young voters. Between Sept 23 – Sept 26, Facebook users received a pop-up reminder on their newsfeed that read “Are you registered to vote? Make sure you have a vote in the election”. Paired with a “register now” button which directed users to the website where they could register, the feature also allowed users to “share” that they have registered.

Just A Little Cross Reuters reported that, according to a survey of state electoral officials and voter non-profits around the United States, the social media campaigns have paid off, at least when it came to getting young voters registered. Another survey of 2,000 Millennials conducted by social media platform Yik Yak showed that 62 percent registered to vote for the first time this year and, of those, 9 percent registered online following a social media prompt. Too little too late, media reports suggest that the US election results could have been massively impacted in favour of Hillary Clinton if more youth voted. Millennials were evidently more vocal about their political views this year, with celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga actively campaigning for their chosen leaders, with the help of social media platforms coming to the party. Unfortunately, what should have translated to the polls, got left behind on social media.

Politically Correct There’s no doubt that social media played a massive role in the 2016 US Elections.  So was it the continuous flow of information or the spice and drama? We all saw Hillary Clinton “Just Chillin” on Snapchat and Donald Trump having nations biting their tongue on his behalf. The hype kept the youth going and the standout result of all this social media action is that the youth had a notable voice. You may think “so what, it’s social media, that’s where you’ll find the youth”, but the truth is Millennials move on quick, use different channels in different ways and are always keeping up with the latest craze. If anything, the US elections proved that it’s not that Millennials are not politically conscious or do not care about “important stuff” but that authentic brand connections within youth culture are the key to overcoming conversion challenges with the youth.

Trying Times What some candidates got right, with Hillary being exemplary, was following the youth where they go, to engage with them on the platforms they frequent, making the whole process more convenient. In their risk averse nature, they also yearn for recognition, inclusion and a sense of power, which has all been given to them through social media this year. From social media to the polls, if at first you don’t succeed, try again! This year showed Millennials that their vote counts and the lack of their impact has been felt.