SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Social media mainly served as an entertainment medium to many people. On this Election Day however, social media is playing an even greater role than just to pass time. The online world is rallying people to go to the polls to cast their vote. Facebook is featuring a widget that allows users to find polling locations and to show that they voted. Additionally, Twitterers are hyping up the elections by demanding that people vote.

Gearing up to this point, social media also served as a space that provided interesting, educational and even funny stories about the candidates and their campaigns. When I asked Twitterers how social media helped them decide on which candidate to vote for, they said:

BrentCsutoras: @rabeidoh Sure. I am on social news site all day so I get to see almost everything from both sides on the election.

mammainthescene: @rabeidoh I feel so much more informed this election because of social media then last time around

Tabz: @rabeidoh Social Media is pretty much how I got all my election news (except for occasional TV news). So it informed my decision.

Not only did the online world serve as an information hub for people, it also allowed similar-minded users to join together in educating the masses about their candidate of choice. Additionally, it encouraged debate and discussion between democratic, republican and undecided voters. This election is probably the most viral campaign ever initiated online.

During the debates, social media was the “place to be” to discuss what the presidential and vice-presidential candidates said. Twitter was the meeting spot for many users who wanted to exchange their opinions. Obviously, the humor was very prevalent and made the experience enjoyable for the users providing and listening to the feedback.

Social media also served as an excellent alternative to traditional media. For example, if one missed the debates, he could search on Twitter using specific keywords, read blog posts, or go to YouTube. The user’s options for finding more information online are endless, which I believe has had an impacted on the percentage of informed voters.

The election is vastly different from many elections past, simply because of the use of social media to educate, disperse information, and encourage users to go to the voting booths. Barack Obama is a great case study of this. Social media users served as reporters, experts, analytics and columnists during this election.