Social media is a powerful tool to reach millions of people across the world, especially amongst young people.
It has become a way for political parties to reach voters on the most important issues during their political campaigning.
It’s a way to widely spread their message, but how effective is it? Global News spoke to some students at the University of Regina to see how they feel about it.
The students we spoke to said social media is working to spread a message and seeing ads gets them thinking about politics.
“It makes you question some things and I’ll do my own research if I see something that piqued my interest,” student Caytie Reed said. “I don’t really see campaigns but more just memes. I’ll see campaigns more when I am at home on the news than on my phone.”
Student Leah Ross said over the last few years, she has seen a lot more political campaigns and posts on her feeds.
“I’ve seen a lot more on like TikTok and you’ll see party leaders posting things and getting more attention from younger people,” Ross explained. “Watching the news on cable TV isn’t a big thing anymore. So I think it’s definitely a better way to reach younger audiences.”
Peter Gumacal said ads often come across his feed for the political party in power in Saskatchewan.
“I don’t follow any political entities on social media, but I do see a lot of Saskatchewan Party ads on YouTube and Instagram,” Gumacal said. “Sometimes they intrigue me and I listen to it. I’ll listen to Scott Moe talk sometimes, but most of the time I just scroll past it trying to get to the next video.”
In a statement the Sask. Party said they can’t comment on specific tactics but the party does use social media to promote whatever the premier and government are doing.
The Saskatchewan NDP said social media is just one tool in the campaigning toolkit.
“There’s no substitute for meeting people in their communities and listening to their concerns,” a statement from the NDP reads. “But we’ll use every tool available to connect with constituents including social media.”
While social media can be a beneficial tool, it’s also a hub for misinformation — something Saskatchewan elections takes very seriously.
If misinformation does arise on social media, Elections Saskatchewan CEO Michael Boda said it’s up to his office to handle it.
“When something is erroneous and it’s introduced on social media or elsewhere, it’s my office that wants to react to that because we don’t want voters to get the wrong information when it comes to the electoral process itself,” Boda said.
Elections Sask. also runs a new elections integrity page on their website that helps people decipher misinformation on social media.
The provincial election will take place on or before Oct. 28