Everywhere you go, you see someone on their phone. People’s days are dominated by time spent on social media as content is constantly being thrown at them. At the same time, American politics has undergone massive amounts of change over the past decade due to the new digital world. It’s an extremely hostile and polarized climate, which is exhausting for voters. Misinformation is being spread like wildfire just to get a reaction from people.
But social media is also a tool that isn’t going to magically disappear, so it should be properly utilized. New politicians shouldn’t be dissuaded by the complex social media environment, and should instead lean into the digital world. Using social media to campaign and spread legitimate and positive information will give politicians a leg up over their competition by capturing the largest possible audience.
To start off, America’s “young voters” aren’t actually so young anymore. According to Governing, Generation Z and millennials will make up the majority of the electorate by 2028. Politicians need to start gearing their campaigns to pick up more young voters, and the simplest way to do that is to incorporate more social media into their campaigns. The American Psychological Association reported that Gen Z spends an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media, and Pew Research Center claims that millennials have spent over 3,500 hours online throughout their lives. These generations are way more likely to see political content through social media compared to traditional media, like live TV and commercials.
If they really want to be seen, politicians need to be on social media., However, they have to do more than just create an account and post mundane videos of themselves talking directly into the camera. They should at least be using social media to document their campaign and show what they are doing to win the public’s trust. Videos that display action instead of empty promises are how to truly get young voters on their side.
That isn’t always enough though. To get more attention on social media, politicians should work with other accounts to gain a larger audience that wouldn’t necessarily seek out political accounts. Recent New York City mayor-elect Zoharn Mamdani was able to execute this plan. He made appearances on other accounts on TikTok, including Gaydar and Subway Takes, and used these videos to explain his campaign in a simple and fun way. The video on Gaydar has over one million views, and the Subway Takes video has over six millions views. Through those collaborations, Mamdani was able to reach millions of social media users who wouldn’t normally be directed to see his content.
Posting on social media will keep campaigns more public and accessible. According to Wired, broadcast TV has been declining for two decades now. If viewers are turning off TV news, then the commercials that cost billions of dollars won’t reach a large audience. If social media becomes a larger part of a politician’s campaign, they can make videos on their own for free, and it will always be accessible on their account. Algorithms like to promote consistency, so the algorithm may even push a politician’s content to the front of the line if they are staying consistent with their campaign.
There has already been an increase of politicians on social media, and some of the content being posted hasn’t been very productive. Some use the convenience of the internet to post harmful things about different politicians or political groups, so it’s reasonable to be afraid of encouraging politicians to increase their social media usage.
However, the best way to combat politicians that use the power of online communities to further divide already polarized parties is with positive political content that inspires confidence and brings pride back into the government. It would be amazing if political figures would stop using social media to spread hate, but sadly, wishing it away won’t do any good. Instead, people need to start focusing on the productive content to drown out all the other noise.
Social media is a tool that should be used to promote healthy, positive, and informative political content in order to connect with a larger audience. People who want their name on the Texas or federal ballot in 2026 should consider using social media to connect directly with the people.
