The Race for Social Media Relevance

• Trends
• July 14, 2015
• by Meaghan Poulin

While social media certainly has a role to play in the upcoming election, its meteoric rise as a game-changing influence has been snuffed out.

President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign is often heralded as the first to truly embrace social media and truly benefit from its use. Consequently, the 2016 presidential contenders are already trying to get ahead of the curve. Rand Paul conducted an interview with CNN on Snapchat, Hillary Clinton gave us a glimpse into her wardrobe via Instagram and  Jeb Bush has been using Meerkat.

Unfortunately for our tech-savvy politicians, embracing these new (and old) forms of social media are not likely to put any of them ahead of the pack. Obama’s social media strategy worked so well for him in 2008 because he was an outlier. Now that everyone has caught on, these new ways of connecting are expected, not innovative. In other words, the social media market is saturated…and supposed savviness no longer impresses Millennials.

But why is this still noteworthy? During this election, our lives may be more saturated with information about candidates than ever before. Perhaps this will be the first race with every candidate painted in an approachable way. Maybe even Mr. Trump will get in on the action and give us a virtual tour of his penthouse. Ah, just like home!