Social Media and The Election

Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Pinterest, and YouTube are all internet-based platforms for entertainment, information, communication, and now the Election. For the first time in history, debates are live-streamed on YouTube and available for people to replay on their computers and mobile devices. In 2008, Barack Obama had a social media campaign that helped him with the presidency. Since the influence of social media has grown, it played a major role in this year’s election. Although the 2008 US Presidential Election was referred to as the “social media election,” now this year’s election campaign is a totally different ballgame. Four years ago, 1.8 million tweets were sent on Election Day, but now, 1.8 million tweets were sent every eighteen minutes. Last Tuesday on Election Day, Twitter barely avoided crashing, peaking at around 327,452 tweets per minute. For Election 2012, young voters, ages 18-24, weren’t tuning in to watch the election results on the evening news. Twitter and Facebook were more convenient for young voter. Although I was helping out with the election, every time we took a commercial break, I would check my Facebook and Twitter to see what people were posting about the election. What shocked me was that although many young voters were using social media outlets, some were also watching comedic programs that commented on the election. On Tuesday night, during commercial breaks, some people were watching The Daily Show on the cell phones and iPads. Although I felt I was “missing out” on what was going on during the election, I was actually more tuned in. By having my cellphone, I could check my Facebook and Twitter, and receive information instantly about the election. Overall, I feel that this election had more social media interactivity than the previous election. During the previous election, I felt like I was “out of the loop” and didn’t know what was happening, but with this election, I felt “tuned in.” I actually knew, during commercial breaks of course, what was going on within seconds.