Political Apptivism
It was the mid-term elections in the United States this week, and America's many Facebook users logged in to discover the 'Megaphone' voting announcement. Appearing on top of user's news feeds, it pushed them to go and vote.
This is not the first time that Facebook has used its influence to
tempt its users into voting. Another version of the Megaphone appeared
in 2008, but this year they have tweaked the algorithm so that the feature reaches out to all users old enough to vote.
The exciting feature lets you see which of your
friends have voted or are planning to vote. For those unsure about where
to go, especially first time voters, Facebook will point you in the direction of your nearest polling station. Once you have voted, you can post on Facebook: "I'm A Voter" or "I'm Voting."
Facebook is working under the assumption that if you see that your
friends have been voting then you are more likely to vote. But what are
Facebook's real intentions? Could they be influencing the end result? A
Facebook spokesperson has stated that: "Our effort is neutral, while we encourage any and all candidates, groups and voters to use our platform to engage on the elections, we as a company have not used our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote."
In this case, it seems that Facebook's intentions are pretty clear: to
ensure that people do their civic duty and go vote. However, in the
future, Facebook could become an important political tool. Over the
summer, Facebook had, controversially, influenced what users saw on
their news feed to see if a load of negative posts would make people
feel sad and vice versa. Facebook could potentially influence who people
want to vote for by making one political party more visible on News
Feeds than others.
However, Facebook is promoting social engagement and should be
applauded for their efforts. More often that not, young people won't
cast their vote, meaning a large chunk of the population remains
unrepresented. Facebook is a large part of young people's lives and so
it makes sense that it should be used to push people into casting their
vote. Social media should play a large part in promoting social
engagement and political activism because it is the space where most
people spend a large amount of time.
How to get young people to go vote? Maybe social media is the answer.
If you wish to master social media for your business, please collect my 4 free ebooks at
Laura is a recent graduate from University of East Anglia in Film and
Television Studies, currently interning as a content writer but hoping
to one day live off her writing. Follow her @LauraAtSMF.
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