Social media is not the impactful tool it once was for organizing or messaging. There are multiple reasons for this. It is difficult to overstate the damage Elon did with his purchase of Twitter, or Zuckerberg’s insistence on not promoting political content. The result is a diaspora of Democratic political organizers, content creators and grassroots activists clambering to build their target audience on new platforms (often several, simultaneously) with new user behaviors. Coalitions are smaller, reach is limited and fewer people take action. This is also due to the rise in popularity of video-based social media, most of which do not allow links to drive immediate action. The algorithms and users’ natural following habits, fairly ensure that messaging stays within these disparate bubbles. So, people are spending more time to reach less people, with little hope of reaching new voters.
I have been running a national grassroots organization since 2017, and there are trends worth noting. Organic impressions and engagement on candidate related posts are significantly down across all platforms. Likewise, volunteer sign-ups and follow through are both decreased from prior cycles. Is some of this due to political exhaustion? Certainly, but that is also a good reason to examine where you are spending your political energy. There are a lot of accounts on social media dedicated to outrage farming. They are profiting from engagement by essentially getting you to scream into the void. There are more useful ways for you to make impactful change, which brings me to #IRLWednesdays.
Starting today, on every Wednesday between now and the election, I would like for you to take at least one action that has real-world impact on getting out the vote. Here are some actions you could take:
Talk to at least 1 person (in real life) about whether they are registered to vote. This could be a friend, family member or co-worker. If they are, help them check their voter registration. If they’re not, help them register. You can do both right here.
Sign-up for at least one shift to help get out the vote (GOTV) for critical candidates. These campaigns all need help with canvassing, phone calling, texts, letter writing, etc. Virtual and in-person opportunities are available. Use the filters and find something that works for you from our GOTV page.
Talk to at least 1 person about the stakes in this election and why it is important to you. Ask them if they have heard of Project 2025 and talk to them about the risks. You can read about risks to specific communities and issues here.
On social media, make sure you are following and amplifying candidates and organizations that do election work. Re-posting this type of content is integral to creating the type of organic Blue Wave messaging that played such an important role in 2018 and 2020.
Canvass your neighbors. Indivisible has a great program called Neighbor to Neighbor. If this tool is not available for your neighborhood, simply pick a house or two and do options 1 and 3.
Sign-up to join us as a volunteer and take a more active role in this and upcoming election cycles.
Post what you did to social media, and see if we can inspire others to get out of their comfort zone. This election is extraordinarily tight, especially down ballot. We’re going to need to get out every possible vote.