As the election draws to a close, @MTVInsights asked our college interns to tell the story of how their generation has engaged with this election over social media. Many have coined this the “first social election”… and for first time voters like our interns, they know nothing else. Millennials have been sharing witty memes and Tweefs (def: beefs in Twitter), as well as smartly utilizing online resources to fact check and discover their presidential soul mate.

Our interns Carly Ivrey and Hannah Nicklas share the most frequent kinds of political posts grazing the walls of their social media accounts…

1.  Vote for Meme!

The presidential debates have allowed Millennials to go crazy creating GIFs and memes to express our opinions on politics. Even if a meme comes with a point of view, it’s usually more based on ribbing the subject’s reputation rather than policy, so supporters from both sides might be able to have a laugh.

2. Tweets

During most of the debates, Millennials live Tweeted their opinions about what was happening on screen.  They also poked fun at some of the crazier things politicians said by creating fake twitter accounts like @FiredBigBird and @RomneysBinders.

3. InstaPrez

Instagram users got political by posting photos of things like their morning coffee in 7-Eleven’s “candidate cups,” their friends in politician costume masks, and images of their laptops as they watched a candidate’s speech

4. YouTube/YouVote

While many humorous political videos have been made by previous generations (and SNL shows little sign of slowing down), Millennials took it into their own hands to create something entertaining and kind of (but not really) informative.  Some of our favorites:

·      “Mitt Romney Style” (a parody of “Gangnam Style”)

·      “99 Problems Explicit Political remix” (a mash-up of videos clips that produce President Obama’s take on Jay-Z’s hit) are a few examples of popular political viral videos.

·      “Epic Rap Battles: Romney vs Obama” (Romney + Obama duke it out rap style)

5. “Dot Gov”

Sometimes we take a whole domain name to get a laugh, with these faux-sanctioned websites like RomneyTaxPlan.com and TextsfromMitt.com.

6. Finding a Presidential Soul Mate

On a serious note, quiz websites like ISideWith.com helped many Millennials, us included, to figure out which candidate really mirrored our opinions. These were a great stepping stone for us to learn more about the candidates, and with the sharing app, it was a great way to learn more about friends’ views too!

7. “Flack-checking”

Fact-checking is extremely important to Millennials, since we were raised on Google.  People posted tons of videos from FlackCheck.org showing what candidates said and revealing the truth behind their statements. Plus these videos run no longer than a minute, making them perfect for our ADD generation.

Romney vs. FactCheckers on Food Prices

Obama vs. FactCheckers on the Effects of the Obama Budget

Whatever our opinions may be, whatever our approach may be, we all used our technology-savvy skills to make sure we were heard leading up to the election. Plus, it gave us another reason to keep humming the tune of “Gangnam Style”.