Social media has become the top source of news for Millennials. No longer are students taking the time to sit down and watch broadcast news or read the newspaper — rather, they are flipping through newsfeeds on cellphones to get the latest updates on the presidential election.
Of the Millennials engaged in primaries, 74 percent of Democrats were likely to learn about the election from social media whereas only 50 percent of Republicans were, according to a Pew Research survey.
Among other generations, there were no differences, but they got their information from social media significantly less.
Choosing political sources
Junior Casey Santarpia, a political science major and a supporter of Republican candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), gets her news by following CNN, Fox News and the New York Times on Twitter.
Though she prefers sitting down and watching cable news when she’s at home, she does not have that kind of time at school, so she chooses to get her political news on the go.
Millennials aren’t very easy to reach, according to a study on young voters.
“Every day I will scroll through my Twitter feed and I like to see the tweets, get a quick blurb of what I’m about to read and then I click on what it is that’s piqued my interest,” Santarpia said. “If I feel as though that’s something I want to look into, then I’ll go and read along with it.”
Junior Taylor Beberman sits down to watch CNN and read The Skimm each morning, feeling that both these sources are reliable and unbiased. She also follows the frontrunners former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump on Instagram to see what they’re up to. Like many of her peers, Beberman will take the time to watch featured debate stories on Snapchat for quick live updates of what’s going on.
Adam Constantine, social media manager for Elon University Communications, believes Millennials are drawn to social media for political information because they don’t have to seek it out.
“Millennials are on their phones a lot. They’re on social media a lot, especially with the election coming up this year. It’s on their newsfeed,” Constantine said. “It’s what they care about. It’s what their friends care about, so naturally they’re going to get information from there.”
According to another Pew Research survey, 61 percent of Millennials get their news from Facebook, whereas 60 percent of the Baby Boomer generation still gets its political news from local television. About a quarter of Millennials who use Facebook say that half the posts they see are related to government and politics, which is higher than both Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.
But this does not mean the news they are getting is the most recent or reliable.
Constantine knows there is bias with any news source, which is why he advises social media users to research and keep an open mind while sourcing from different outlets.
“Social media allows you to create your own reality,” he said. “If I want to follow only left-wing liberals, I can do that. If I only want to follow right-wing conservatives, I can do that. However, just know if that’s all you see, that is going to be your reality.”
Junior Josh O’Neil is a supporter of Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and shares multiple articles on Facebook every day. He usually gets his political news from left-slanted sources like The Huffington Post and is aware of the bias.
Often, O’Neil will not read an article before sharing it, solely to spark controversy and conversation online.
“Mostly if I share something, I share it with the idea that I will be questioned and I may be proven wrong,” he said. “I kind of share it to stir the pot. I mostly just share these things for information or if I really agree with the message.”
If he does not fully understand the headline, he will then write a paragraph of his own opinion in the post. O’Neil is cognizant that his news sources can be biased and believes that even if a post he shares is inaccurate, someone will call him out on it and he will learn something.
Both Beberman and Santarpia prefer not to post or read too many articles on Facebook because they feel it’s filled with the biases of their peers.
“I’m a big believer that everyone should be invested in their own politician and their own candidate based on what they think, and I think a lot of people in our age group will see what people on Facebook are commenting about and read too much into it,” Beberman said. “I want people to make their own opinion from trusted sources and not what their peers are saying.”
Connecting with Millennials
Just as all generations lean toward news sources that fit with their ideologies, the presidential candidates are targeting certain generations more than others through social media, specifically Millennials.
“Hillary Clinton can put something out and I can get it right to my phone as if she sent me a text, which Hillary and I do not text,” Constantine said. “It’s getting that information out there before.”
Each of the candidates has some sort of social media presence, through Facebook, Twitter and even Snapchat. Most serve as rallying cries but others, like Trump, have more of an authentic voice.
Some candidates have a better reach to the younger generation than others. Facebook, which 58 percent of U.S. adults use, has disproportionately young users that are mostly low-income and female.
In a FiveThirtyEight project called “The Facebook Primary,” which looks at how candidates would be winning the primaries through Facebook likes, Sanders would be winning to Clinton nationwide in a 3-to-1 margin, and Trump would have twice the support of Cruz. This paints a small picture of how those on social media are supporting the candidates.
There is also an increased effort to get the younger vote through social media.
To reach Millennials specifically, tweets will be sent with a younger voice by incorporating memes and emojis. By interacting with Millennials through youth-based social media, like Snapchat, candidates are hoping to get them to vote.
“The hardest people to reach are young voters,” Constantine said. “So you’re trying to put your information out there. They don’t want you watching the story — they want you to get up and vote. But if me being on Snapchat that gets you to vote, then I’m going to do it.”