# Election-Savvy Networking Graphs The ‘How Social Media is Playing a Political Role’ Ch By Jennifer Gosnell | Published 2012-07-22 | Pop Culture Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/how-social-media-is-playing-a-political-role References: [visual.ly](http://visual.ly/how-social-media-playing-political-role) The 'How Social Media is Playing a Political Role' infographic outlines the vital ways in which social media is affecting voters and their engagement. Social media is both the political dream and a politician's worst nightmare. Political news—good or bad—can be spread within a matter of seconds from many different sources to a variety of different people. It reaches a youthful generation and highlights some of the issues they care about by what they ‘Like’ on [Facebook](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/joe-biden) or ‘Tweet’ on [Twitter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/thats-one-second). With 35% of Americans in the 2008 election watching political videos online, the possibilities for politicians are endless. Twenty-two percent even go as far to say that if it weren’t for online involvement, they would not be as involved. In the political age of today, to not have a social media presence is a death sentence, as 60% of social media users expect candidates to have an online presence. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 0.6/10 - Popularity: 8% | Activity: 3% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Pop Culture](https://www.trendhunter.com/popculture) > [Media](https://www.trendhunter.com/media) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Social Media Engagement:** Disruptive innovation opportunity to leverage social media platforms to engage voters and highlight important issues. - **Online Political Videos:** Disruptive innovation opportunity to create compelling and shareable political videos that reach a wide audience. - **Social Media Presence:** Disruptive innovation opportunity to build a strong online presence for political candidates to connect with potential voters. ### Where This Applies - **Social Media Marketing:** Disruptive innovation opportunity for social media marketing agencies to provide targeted advertising and campaign strategies for political candidates. - **Digital Content Creation:** Disruptive innovation opportunity for digital content creators to produce captivating political videos that resonate with online audiences. - **Online Political Consulting:** Disruptive innovation opportunity for online consulting firms to advise politicians on building and managing their social media presence. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Engaging Political Update Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/govside-app.md) - [Political Podcast Milestones](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/joe-rogan-hosted-former-president-trump.md) - [AR Voter Campaigns](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/voter-campaign.md) - [Global Election Trackers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/world-election-map.md) - [Gen Z-Targeted Voting Features](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/election-center.md) - [Political Podcast Appearances](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/kamala-harris-call-her-daddy.md) - [Social Media Political-Content Limitations](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/political-content-limit.md) - [Congress Voting Insights](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/votesee.md) - [Election Insights Tools](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/polymarket-election.md)