Some famous movie stars and singers are trying to use social
media to encourage young people to discuss the issues and vote in the November
election.
But just how effective social media have been overall in accomplishing
that goal in recent elections "is not conclusive ... it's a new medium," says
Carly Schmidt, a political science instructor at Indiana State University.
Still, use of social media is "a great thing," she said. When young
people put something on Facebook or Twitter, "They share it with peers who may
not know anything about it ... Politics has a great opportunity to reach more
people with social media."
Social media also can help create social movements, Schmidt said, "and
that's a big deal."
On television news, there is only a limited amount of time to cover an
issue, but with social media, "Any number of issues can be posted any time of
day and shared" and it can quickly become a larger-scale issue, Schmidt said.
She coordinates the American Democracy Project at ISU, which is intended
"to create a more civically-minded and civically-involved student body," she
said.
Tommy Nicholas, an ISU student and Vigo County volunteer coordinator for
Barack Obama's presidential campaign, said he uses his Facebook page as a tool
to promote the Obama campaign.
"It's a vehicle to reach out to people to get them involved in the
campaign," he said. If he's hosting a campaign event, organizing a phone bank
or registering people to vote, he'll invite people through Facebook.
He's not had as much success as he'd like in getting college-age students
interested. "I was more optimistic in the beginning that I would have more
success," he said. "I feel college students are apathetic to the entire
political process."
Bruce Porter, an ISU junior, uses social media -- Facebook links -- to
some degree to follow political news, but he gets most of his information from
television and newspapers.
In his opinion, politicians don't use social media enough to get
college-age students interested and involved. But Porter believes they need to
use "everything," including social media, television and newspapers, to get
their word out.
Christopher Fields, a junior and social studies education major, is
interested is political science and he is following the presidential election.
He probably will vote for Obama, he said, "just to give him more time to fix
the economy."
He doesn't turn to social media for his political news. He said he learns
a lot from his classes, and he'll also go to news sites on the Internet.
Social networking sites aren't always reliable sources of information, he
said, although Facebook can be a good way to share and spread news stories.
Melissa Harden, ISU junior and business management major, said she
doesn't follow politics closely although she's trying to get more interested.
"I feel a lot of stuff they talk about doesn't affect me," she said, but her
parents try to reinforce to her that many of the issues do affect her.
When she wants to learn about news events, she goes to the CNN app on her
smart phone.
Terry Casey, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology political science
professor, says his impression is that social media reinforce a student's
actions or political views -- but they doesn't necessarily change that view or
cause students to vote.
"That's my impression. I can't back it up with data," Casey said.
Dylan Kessler, a Rose-Hulman junior from New Jersey, believes students'
political ideology is more influenced by where they grew up and how they grew
up -- not necessarily social media.
A Democrat, Kessler is very interested in politics and has mobile apps on
his phone to read Politico and the Washington Post. He also has signed up to
receive emails from the Obama campaign and he does follow a few Facebook pages
dealing with politics.
Schmidt said while young people are the ones most likely to use social
media, they are also the least likely to vote.
Research suggests that society has changed, and while voting was once
viewed as a duty or obligation, "that public sense of civic duty has dwindled
over time among young people," she said.
Young people view voting and civic participation as a choice, and "one
they don't think they need to make," Schmidt said.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
