Beyond the Ballot

Beyond the Ballot

Social Media's Role in Sustaining Civic Engagement Post-Election

As the nation gears up for the 2024 election, civic engagement cannot stop at casting a ballot. Social media is, or at least has the potential to be, an ongoing, digital public forum capable of sustaining civic life post-Election Day. Because these platforms can foster ongoing participation and discussion, they can help create the sort of democracy in which informed citizens actively engage and hold their representatives accountable.And the second is for social media platforms to quickly move beyond election content and to provide users with civic resources, information and opportunities to engage in local and national civic affairs, reminding people that democracy is an ongoing process, not a once-a-year event.Promoting civic engagement ultimately relies on community participation and volunteerism, so social media has the potential to act as a central hub for users to discover and engage in local community initiatives, in local governance and charitable activities. These opportunities can be highlighted, passed on to state and business networks and, if captivating, empower users of social media to feel compelled to contribute themselves. Ultimately, these activities will help the civic identity of a user to flourish.Town halls, forums and other deliberations with elected officials, held in live-streamed broadcast or chat-format presentations that afford citizens equal opportunities to speak, might become more common. Social media sites would support these various forms; users could pose questions to their representatives and learn, at their convenience, the issues that government bodies were addressing.Educational initiatives must be carried forward beyond the election. Social media can stay geared toward fostering awareness of political issues, policy changes and developments on the ground. If social-media platforms can provide information that’s accessible and fair, they help users to stay engaged in the democratic process and thus create a more informed and improved citizenry.Crucially, collectively they should make room for a multitude of different voices that can challenge integrationist narratives. By allowing those routinely excluded from the policymaking process to have a say, they actually enrich democratic deliberation and offer a space for people from minority communities to have a platform and their say.Social media can seize this opportunity to promote civic engagement beyond the 2024 election and sustain it across the democratic landscape. The platforms could continue to provide tools, promote community action, foster deliberation, support learning and facilitate the expression of diverse viewpoints so that they can contribute to a vibrant post-election and post-midterms democracy. That commitment to sustained civic engagement is also a commitment to the continued vitality of our democracy.