As we know its all fair and well using social media to reach out to our small group of close friends and family, but the real question is, how can it be used to reach the masses and the right people you’re trying to target? To get the most effective use out of social media in order to aid in helping and promoting their campaign in the most efficient way possible it is necessary to target the correct groups of people. In the 2017 election Labour really used the social media software as a way to target young people and reach out to them in a manor in which they can see and relate to. This is done using bots, originally used for advertising bots are a way to target a particular group of people. These can be people in the same age group, the same class or the same interests meaning that these groups of people were flooded with information of what the Labour party wanted them to see in order to secure the votes of the people. The fact that there was such a high flooding of information meant that people didn’t feel the need to look else where in order to gain information about what the different parties were promising to do if and when they got elected. Without the impact of Labour using social media to target young people specifically in the 2017 General Election the lead up to the election may have been completely different with, just like previous years, a lot lower interest shown from the young people in the age bracket of 18-30 years old.
Thankfully this wasn’t the case with an astonishing number of young people in the age bracket of 18-30 years old showing a great deal of interest and passion towards the 2017 election. This could be down to a raise in maturity in these ages however it is more likely, in my opinion, to be down to very clever targeting of marginal voters. By using social media handles to reach people it has immediately made the politicians more accessible and relatable. As well as being a much cheaper and faster method of reaching people, it also humanises the candidates and puts them on the same level as the voters meaning there is a stronger connection. Why I found most interesting about the different uses of social media in the run up to election was the way the public warmed to each candidate via social media, Corbyn begain to be seen as some what of a martyr to the young Labour voters. However although they were pro Corbyn they were all the while relishing in posting and retweeting countless Theresa May ‘trolls’ and ‘memes’ making fun of her and mainly related to an interview where she admits that the naughtiest thing that she has ever done was run through a wheat field. The trolls included some celebrities and other politicians. To me, this shows that by a lack of presence on social media it creates a divide between the politicians and the voters, making them less relatable and on two completely different levels.
This kind of movement and joining together of young people from all different backgrounds simply would not have happened anywhere near to this kind of magnitude if social media did not exist. Speeches and print announcements just don’t have the same kind of a fast impact on a large group of people that can be achieved from social media.
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