The #momthevote movement earned a healthy amount of national media and political attention during the federal election. The movement was organized to get mothers discussing election issues and rallying for mom voters on May 2. It was one of those efforts made possible by and grew because of social media. Women joined the conversation mostly through Twitter and blogs. They showed doubters they are interested and technically savvy.
Using Sysomos MAP, I was able to look back on the federal election and estimate a total of 2,648 tweets were tagged with #momthevote during the entire federal election. That total number represents roughly 16% of the daily volume of election related Twitter traffic. It’s a small yet noteworthy amount particularly since the federal election was the first in Canada in which social media was expected to play a more significant role. People may have been more enthusiastic to get involved given the way social media was hyped in media coverage of the election.
Sysomos Heartbeat has played a more prominent role in my daily monitoring of the current provincial election campaigns. Among other things, it allows me to capture and curate online election chatter. In Ontario, I’ve captured 93 mentions of #momthevote. That’s about 2% of the daily average of tweets. Some quick math suggests we’re likely to see only 44 more tweets before the ballots close on October 6. I was among those expecting moms would be out in full force, again, building on the momentum of their last campaign.
Youth voters have also been noticeably absent from the conversation. Youth vote mobs and the #youthvote hashtag gained a lot of media attention in the federal election. There was speculation the youth vote would noticeably tip the scales on May 2 and that young voters would be out in numbers that would cause a much wanted (significant) increase in voter participation. That sentiment was reinforced by the number of #youthvote tweets (an estimated 12,796 total during the election, representing 80% of the estimated daily average volume of tweets). Videos also played a prominent role in the movement and Canadian media celebrity Rick Mercer took up the cause.
So, where are the youth in the Ontario provincial election? One could argue that provincial politics has a greater impact on student lives than federal politics given that education and healthcare are managed by the provinces. There’s also a tighter relationship to employment at the provincial level. The number of #youthvote mentions is so low in the current Ontario election, I’d rather not repeat it here.
Image found on the post #momthevote Getting Noticed on CBC The National.
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