Everyone wants to “know” what is happening.
Social media gives us the tools to reach out, get and give information.
Last year I participated as I have in the last 3 elections in Mexico, in a political campaign. This time I was actively helping a man who was campaigning for mayor as an independent in my home city. However this year marked a change in many aspects of political campaigns. Social media was an incredibly important asset for everyone, candidates, volunteers, and staff members.
How we receive and transmit information has evolved rapidly in recent years, and naturally I turned to my instagram to inform my followers, consisting mostly at the time of friends and family, about my daily activities as usual, however now, with a heavily political message as most of my days involved some sort of campaign activity. From collecting signatures, to going door to door, and even bus riding with flags promoting the candidate I decided to volunteer for.
Soon enough people started asking questions, what are his proposals? What’s happening locally? Can you tell me where can I meet him to ask questions? My dm’s where flooded with good wishes, skeptical questions, and people wanting to get more and more information about local issues.
I’ve always been a very active person, I love being informed and I love sharing the information I have with others. So I took it upon myself to inform my small audience about more specific issues. From legal to political aspects we saw during the campaign, to the fun parts of it and the people involved.
People reacted to it, everyone was suddenly engaged with my content, wanting to be involved in some way or another. People began to share my stories with others and my followers slowly but surely grew. I realized my words and videos where having an impact, even if small.
Then in a party with some friends an acquaintance I knew from school commented on my videos, and said she really enjoyed seeing them because even when she wanted to be informed most news and issues relating to either politics or legal context where written with a highly professional vocabulary she didn’t have. So even if she actively searched out for information, most of the time she would sort of grasp the main issues, but she really wouldn’t understand fully the context of current issues.
Thus I decided to continue with my videos even after the campaign was over. Talking about national and local issues, topics I though where important for the general public to know and understand. Up to today I have talked about Migration, El Chapo, Cannabis, Contamination, and other current issues that people want to know about, but do not know where to get easy to digest information.
Yes, there is an excess of information in the world right now, news travel in seconds, but most of the times this are mixed with highly technical vocabulary, assuming people know everything that is happening or has happened when that isn’t necessary the case. People want to be explained things in a way that they can understand to build their own criteria and be a little bit more aware of their surrounding context.
I recently did a poll on wether people would like to know not only about issues happening in Mexico, but also on a world wide level and they where excited! So I have taken upon myself to read more, inform about more issues, talk about relevant news and aspects that affect the international, national, and local sphere.
It’s not that my generation doesn’t want to be informed, rather that information is not made to target my generation, young adults and teens crave to know what is happening and are actively engaged in political and legal issues, however news and information outlets are not made easily accesible for people who are still in high school or just beginning college.
Social media, such as instagram, has given me the ability to reach out to other people that want to know. And for people who previously weren’t seeking out to know to be even if a little bit curious and start to get involved in diverse issues.
Social media is not just for influencers, or sharing food, or aesthetic looking pictures (which are all amazing and unique creative and business marketing tools all in their own ways). But it has the potential to be so much more than that. It gives the opportunity to teach and learn, to speak and listen.
Like what you read? Buy me a coffee. ❤
¿Hablas español? Mi instagram es @isaleala ❤
