Fresh research confirms that social media personalities posting views on politics are having quite an impact on young people's political opinions and are even influencing their voting intentions. The research was conducted by Ghent’s Artevelde University of Applied Sciences. More than half the young people surveyed said that influencers had an impact on their thinking on politics.
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Social media influencers impacting on youngsters' voting, but TV too still hanging in there
Colin Clapson
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Among young people between 18 and 30 years old, social media figures play an important role as a source of information, according to a survey by Artevelde involving more than 1,300 Flemish youngsters. No fewer than 9 in 10 young people surveyed said they had come across political posts by influencers in the run-up to the last election, on 9 June of this year.
In most cases, the youngsters saw posts on Instagram (55 per cent) or on TikTok (39 per cent). Facebook, YouTube, X or Snapchat trail a long way behind.
The young people surveyed list more than 100 social media figures whom they labelled as ‘political influencers’. Most often mentioned is Elisabeth Lucie Baeten, who uses her character Katrien from Politics PR to dissect figures in the political news. But also Acid, Jonatan Medart, Kamal Kharmach, Flo Windey and Gert Verhulst were mentioned.
Politicians as influencers?
Although the survey polled in search of the names of non-political influencers, young people still regularly identify politicians as ‘influencers’. In particular, Conner Rousseau (Flemish socialist), Jos D'Haese (far left PVDA), Tom Van Grieken (far right Vlaams Belang) and Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) are often mentioned.
‘This could indicate that these politicians have acquired a kind of influencer status among young people,’ says researcher Edward De Vooght of Artevelde. ‘This ensures that these politicians get into these young people’s feeds more easily and could also have a greater impact.’
Their impact is indeed there, the study shows. 57 per cent of young people say that posts from political influencers have had an impact on their political opinions. 55 per cent state that political influencers have even influenced their voting behaviour.
Moreover, influencers have encouraged 1 in 3 young people surveyed to vote. 1 in 4 young people say they have encouraged them to become more informed.
Demand for fact-checking
It may explain why an overwhelming majority of young people believe that well-known social media figures also have a social responsibility. For example, more than 4 in 10 young people argue that influencers should first fact-check the information they share themselves. An almost equally large group also wants transparency about the sources influencers use for their posts.
Still influencers get quite a lot of credit for what they do. Barely 4 in 10 young people would unfollow social media figures if it turned out that they were paid by political parties for their posts.
Social media leads the pack, but don't forget television
Social media is the main place where young people interact with political messages. But with 74 per cent television still occupies an important second place in that list. In the run-up to the 9 June elections, 4 in 10 young people watched newscasts like Het Journaal on VRT or ‘Het Nieuws’ on VTM.
Other programmes with political content also attracted young viewers. More than 2 in 3 young viewers also indicated that these programmes had an impact on their voting.
‘The success of these new formats shows that there is a need for a new way of representing politics in the media,’ says De Vooght. ‘Young voters are tired of classical debate and bickering.’