Midterm Elections Ads and Cascades: Getting People to Vote
The low participation of US citizens, and more problematically the younger generation, has led advertisers to reach out to use all social media and general media platforms to advertise and encourage voting for the midterm elections. Primarily, these elections were focused on advertising and spreading the news through the television, but with the shift in technology and the accessibility, politicians have reverted to using these platforms to reach out the greater audience and spread information that may counteract ‘fake-news’ spreading. In addition, celebrities and influential people have also been using social media to encourage voting and general participation. Despite the large efforts and billions of dollars allocated to encourage Millenials to vote, the results of the midterm elections have shown a lack of improvement in the participation. This comes to show that these ads and information cascades serve useful only with mass support and interest amongst peers and close friends. The lack of momentum and energy amongst the communities play a large part over the ads themselves. The over/excessive advertising stemming from the algorithmic targeting companies use to reach specific audiences has rather discouraged the younger generation to participate in voting and increased in the spreading of ‘fake-news’. As in previous elections, the issue of ‘fake-news’ spreading on digital platforms has been a severe issue, these politicians have allocated a lot of resources to shield ‘fake-news’, as these information cascades develop quickly.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/politics/digital-advertising-midterm-elections/index.html
https://www.ibj.com/articles/70545-political-campaigns-boost-investment-in-social-media-ads
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/us/politics/campaign-ads-midterm-elections.html