Young voters’ social media use redefines Indonesian presidential election

Indonesia’s two presidential candidates, Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, have tapped into the potential of social media to attract young voters who comprise about a third of the voting population. In the run-up to the July 9 election, the two camps flood feeds with memes, photos, videos and chatter about their campaigns and candidates. Indonesia’s social media users are, after all, among the most active in the world. There are about 65 million Indonesians on Facebook, while at least 15.3 million are on Twitter. Those under 30 years old, including the 5 million who will be voting for the first time, are heavy social media users, and they make up a third of the approximately 185.6 million total eligible voters. Jokowi’s social media campaign is run by tech-savvy volunteers, while Prabowo’s is run by digital analysts no older than 28 years.

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