Engaging a new generation of voters via social media
The rise of the internet has coincided with a rise in voter apathy, especially among youth populations all over the world. But as we have seen over the past couple of years, when such youth get worked up about something online, and spread their feelings over social media like Facebook and Twitter, today’s youth can wield more power than it ever has before. The internet has the power to enhance democracy dramatically, and Votizen, funded by, among others, Sean Parker (one of Facebook’s early investors), is ready to harness its power just in time for the 2o12 Presidential Elections.
Votizen really could change elections forever…
The big idea behind Votizen is that voting patterns are already beginning to change: away from taking notice of negative TV ads and huge amounts of money spent on annoying robo-calling or door-knocking, to voting decisions made via the information we absorb online (friends’ influence on social networks; stories on issues we care about popping up in our news feeds…).
“Endorsements over social media are becoming more valuable than TV ads”
So based on this idea, you can link up your Votizen profile to Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, and exert your influence over your contacts by choosing to endorse a political candidate you like. You can then be connected with other voters who endorsed the same candidate, and also view your candidate’s competition. And the same principal applies to issues: you can choose to endorse a particular issue you feel strongly about. Votizen believes that simply by seeing that your friends have endorsed a particular point of view, candidate or issue, you will become more engaged in the political process. And that’s a very powerful tool indeed when you think of how many friends of friends of friends your endorsement could spread to…