Interaction Between Young Adults and Political Candidates

on Social Media

Jennifer BrodishJeff Miles

Elizabeth CarrollAustin Lahey

Twitter ComparisonObama Price

• Tweets:o 3,515

• Following:o 679,731

• Followers:o 14,330,448

Romney• Tweets:

o 919• Following:

o 243• Followers:

o 444,444

• Tweets:o 360

• Following:o 1,380

• Followers:o 1,809

Literature Review• A study of the 2008 presidential campaign by

Robertson, Vatrapu and Medinaj (2009) found that Facebook increased two-way communication between candidates and the public

• Part of President Obama’s win in 2008 has been attributed to his adept use of social media, especially for fundraising (Steele, 2012)

• One study predicted that candidates would spend $100 million on digital marketing in the 2012 cycle (Bachman, 2011)

Politicians turn to Social Media

• Politicians are now on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets

• They use social media to connect to our generation

• Question is: Does it actually work?

Facebook and Twitter

Politicians use social media to:- Answer voters’ questions- Share their stance on a political

controversy- Be in touch with younger

generations

Research Questions• Are young people following political candidates on

social media?o If so what kind of candidates?

• What kind of content do young people want from political candidates on social media?

Methodology• Survey• Convenience Sample

Methodology• Initial questions were on demographics of

respondents • Next questions were on general social media use

and political interest

Methodology• Final questions were on the number and type of

candidates that respondents followed, and on the content that respondents wanted to see from candidates

Results• 102 respondents to the survey; vast majority

were current college (including graduate) students

• Average age: 21

WomenMenNot Re-ported

Strongly Interested

Interested

Somewhat Interested

Degrees of Disinter-ested

Results• Respondents’ political affiliations were mixed, but

the sample skewed toward conservatives• Most respondents were students, and most of the

students were upperclassmen• Most respondents were on more than on social

network and most used Facebook more than one hour per day

Results• Not much following of political candidates

currently• Most people who are following candidates on

social media are doing so on Twittero Most followed three candidates or fewero Most followed candidates for federal office (compared to state or local

office)

Results• Respondents expressed a preference on

candidates’ political views and public policy stances

• Overwhelming majority of respondents said they were somewhat likely, likely or very likely to vote for candidates they followed on social media

Conclusions• The literature suggests that some candidates are

already using social media very effectively• Survey indicates that people are interested in

politics and that they are likely to vote for candidates they follow on social media

• Candidates should expand social media as a channel for communicating during campaigns and beyond

Conclusions• Candidates should expand social media as a

channel for communicating during campaigns and beyond

Limitations• Convenience sample, so the results may not hold

for the larger populationo For example more women took the survey than did meno More conservatives also took the survey than liberals

• Since most people didn’t follow candidates currently, the number of people responding to certain items was low

THANKS!