#Will Political Social Media Influencers Impact This Year's Election? -
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   Feb 12, 2020,03:38pm EST|

Will Political Social Media Influencers Impact This Year's Election?

   Peter Suciu
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   Social Media Influencers

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   Will influencers sway the 2020 election via social media?
   Getty

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   Getty

   "Influencers" on social media aren't just plugging products and
   building brand awareness. Social media influencers could be crucial to
   winning the White House in November. It isn't just those influencers
   with hundreds of thousands of followers that are being courted by
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   with hundreds of thousands of followers that are being courted by
   candidates to help sway voters, as increasingly "micro-influencers" –
   those individuals who may have a mere few thousand engaged social media
   followers – are being courted to help build momentum for a campaign.
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   This isn't new to 2020, and as a recent story from Reuters noted, the
   Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called upon paid
   influencers to spread "get out the vote" messaging, while progressive
   political action committee (PAC) NextGen America has reportedly
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   political action committee (PAC) NextGen America has reportedly
   recruited hundreds of Instagram micro-influencers. The goal is to
   simply get more people in the ballot booth.

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   Digital Grassroots

   Whether called a micro or "nano-influencer," these are those
   individuals with somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 followers on such
   social media services as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
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Equalizer

   In many cases, these influencers may not even support a candidate but
   rather may rally behind a cause – such as climate control or
   immigration reform.
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   immigration reform.

   "Social Media influencers, the good ones, have the skill set of getting
   people pissed off and people that become passionate will take action,
   if they are fired up to show up to public displays of support or
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   effectively decide the next election."

   Candidates are hiring influencers as a way to reach an audience that
   they might not otherwise be able to connect to, and this could be why
   Mike Bloomberg reportedly reached out to food and travel blogger Alycia
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   The former New York City mayor offered $150 to Chrosniak, which she
   told Reuters she declined – citing that he wasn't her "top choice"
   candidate. The question is whether other influencers will be so noble
   in turning down money. The other question is whether those influencers
   that are paid by a campaign will actually disclose such a fact?

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   As it now stands, U.S. Federal Election Commission rules do not
   explicitly address the role of social media influencers, but in the
   case of a paid endorsement it is another issue entirely. The rules say
   that any public online communication that advocate for the election of
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   appears on social media is increasingly difficult. The survey found
   that few even have confidence that the technology companies can even
   prevent the misuse of social media to influence this year's elections.

   It may not just be the candidates that could utilize social media
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   It may not just be the candidates that could utilize social media
   influencers in this election cycle either. Earlier this month, FBI
   Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers during a House Judiciary
   Committee hearing that foreign disinformation efforts on social media
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   from this information overload. Does anyone who reads a food and travel
   blog care about a political endorsement? More importantly, does that
   endorsement mean anything if the paid influencers disclose that it is a
   paid endorsement?

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   paid endorsement?

   "Influencers may have some impact on the election," said Greg Sterling,
   vice president of marketing insights at Uberall.

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   "However as we saw in 2016 celebrity endorsements and exhortations to
   vote had limited impact," added Sterling. "Particular influencers in
   particular communities may be able to motivate people to vote or might
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   particular communities may be able to motivate people to vote or might
   have an impact on voters' decisions but in the aggregate I think their
   impact will be marginal."
   Peter Suciu
   Peter Suciu